Loan Surge Sows Risk at Rural Credit Co-ops

Following tracks laid by major commercial banks during a surge in lending this year, China's rural cooperative financial institutions have been running loan programs full-throttle, signing up borrowers as never before.

New loans written by rural cooperative financial institutions (RCFI) reached an all-time high 745.9 billion yuan in the first six months of this year, according to the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC).