PBOC Reins in Wealth Management Products

(Beijing) — China's central bank has stepped up efforts to cut financial risks posed by the growing number off-balance-sheet wealth management products (WMPs) at a time when the interbank market is experiencing tightened liquidity.

Starting in the first quarter of 2017, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) will include off-balance-sheet WMPs in its Macro Prudential Assessment (MPA) system, a points-based framework adopted by the central bank at the start of 2016 to gauge risks in bank-credit exposure.