China’s economy is slowing, profits are falling and its stock market is drifting down, but its corporate bond market is moving in the exact opposite direction: it is booming.
中国经济的增速正在放缓，利润正在下滑，股市正在走低，但中国企业债券市场的走势却恰恰相反：它正蓬勃发展。
Bond issuance was up about 60 per cent by volume in the first half from a year earlier. By comparison, virtually all other forms of financing were sluggish. Equity issuance fell, new bank loans were barely up and off balance-sheet lending contracted.
今年上半年，中国企业债券发行规模同比增长约60%。相比之下，几乎所有其他形式的融资都显得增长乏力。股票发行下滑，新增银行贷款几乎未见增长，表外贷款出现萎缩。
The fact that corporate bonds have bucked this trend is an important and positive development. It indicates that China is gradually making the transition to a direct financing model, reducing an over-reliance on bank credit that officials and analysts see as one of the major dangers for the economy.
企业债券逆势而行是一个重要且积极的进展。这表明，中国正逐渐向直接融资模式转型，降低对银行贷款的过度依赖——政府官员和分析师现在将对银行贷款的过度依赖视为中国经济的主要威胁之一。
Banks have long been the primary source of capital in China. Total outstanding bank loans were 123 per cent of gross domestic product at the end of 2011, while corporate bonds were just 11 per cent of GDP, according to Credit Suisse.
长期以来，银行一直是中国的主要融资来源。根据瑞士信贷(Credit Suisse)的数据，2011年底，未偿还银行贷款总额为国内生产总值(GDP)的123%，而企业债券仅为GDP的11%。
“The whole financial system has been highly skewed towards banks. The government itself has realised that a lot of risk is concentrated within the banking system and they want to diversify the risks,” said Daisy Wu, an analyst with Credit Suisse.
瑞士信贷分析师Daisy Wu表示：“整个金融体系一直向银行高度倾斜。中国政府自己已意识到，很多风险集中在银行体系内部，他们希望分散这些风险。”
“They have found that both from the issuers’ perspective and the investors’ perspective, bonds are something they really can do. There is both a big potential supply and demand.”
“他们发现，无论从发行者还是投资者的角度来看，债券都是可以大力发展的。潜在的供应和需求规模都很巨大。”
A series of China’s biggest state-owned companies, from oil giant Sinopec to China National Nuclear, have taken advantage of the appetite for bonds to issue debt with coupon rates below bank lending rates. Private companies such as Goldwind and Chang’an Automobile, which traditionally have had a slightly harder time getting bank credit, have also met strong demand in the bond market.
中国一些最大的国有企业（从石油巨头中石化(Sinopec)到中国核工业集团(China National Nuclear)）一直利用投资者对债券的胃口，发行票面利率低于银行贷款利率的债券。通常难以获得银行贷款的私营企业，如金风科技(Goldwind)和长安汽车(Chang’an Automobile)，也面临着债券市场的强劲需求。
Total debt issuance by Chinese non-financial corporations was Rmb853bn ($134bn) in the first half of 2012, the most on record and up from Rmb530bn during the same period last year, according to Wind, a Chinese data provider.
中国数据供应商万得资讯(Wind)的数据显示，今年上半年，中国非金融企业的债券发行总额为8530亿元人民币 (合1340亿美元)，为有记录以来最高，而去年同期这一数字为5300亿元人民币。
Moreover, the funds that companies have raised through bonds this year equate to about a third of the total that they have borrowed from banks, versus a quarter last year. This indicates that while bank financing is still dominant, its grip on Chinese corporate balance sheets is diminishing.
另外，企业今年通过发行债券筹集的资金约为从银行获得贷款总额的三分之一，而去年同期为四分之一。这表明，尽管银行融资仍然占据主导地位，但它对中国企业资产负债表的控制正在减弱。
The major reason for this has been regulatory reform, with officials clearing away some of the obstacles that have stood in the way of the development of the bond market.
其中的主要原因在于监管改革，政府官员清除了一些阻碍债券市场发展的障碍。
China’s corporate bond market has long been divided into three separate fiefdoms. The National Development and Reform Commission, a central planning agency, controls enterprise bonds, which are issued by state-owned companies. The China Securities Regulatory Commission manages bonds that are issued by listed companies and traded on a public exchange. And finally, the central bank oversees commercial paper and medium-term notes, which are traded only in the interbank market.
长期以来，中国企业债券市场一直被划分为三个独立的领地。中央规划机构国家发改委(NDRC)控制着由国有企业发行的企业债。中国证监会(CSRC)管理着上市公司发行且在公开交易所交易的公司债。最后，央行监管着仅在银行间市场交易的商业票据和中期票据。
Each regulatory regime has different approval requirements, some truly arduous. The NDRC has traditionally made companies wait up to a year while it vets their application, while the securities regulator has also been notorious for long delays.
每套监管机制有着不同的审批要求，其中一些确实苛刻。发改委在审查企业申请时一般会让企业等上一年，证监会也一直以长期拖延而闻名。
But the situation began to improve in 2008 when the central bank injected vigour into China’s sclerotic bond market with its promotion of medium-term notes. It greatly simplified the issuance process, opting for a registration system rather than an approval system – a move that forced investors, not regulators, to assess credit risks.
但2008年，这种形势开始改善，当时央行通过推动中期票据的发展，向中国僵化的债券市场注入了活力。它极大地简化了发行程序，采用注册制，而非核准制，此举迫使投资者（而非监管者）对信用风险进行评估。
The relative ease of issuing made a huge difference: the volume of medium-term note issuance was nearly twice as large as that of exchange-listed bonds over the past two years.
发行的相对容易产生了巨大影响：过去两年中，中期票据发行量是在交易所上市的债券的近两倍。
The central bank’s success has, in turn, prodded the other regulators to follow its example. The securities regulator has made especially big strides this year. It has started to fast track issuance approval, cutting waiting times to just over one month. And in June it launched a new high-yield ‘junk’ bond market, adopting a registration, not an approval, system, just like the central bank.
央行的成功进而促使另两家监管机构仿效这一做法。证监会今年的进展尤其大。它已开始加速发行审批，将等候时间减少到一个月多一点。今年6月，证监会推出了一个新的高收益“垃圾”债券市场，采用注册制，而非核准制，和央行一样。
These initiatives have had an immediate impact. Exchange-listed bonds have clawed their way to be about level in issuance volume with medium-term notes this year, according to data from Thomson Reuters.
这些举措产生了立竿见影的效果。根据汤森路透(Thomson Reuters)的数据，经过努力，交易所上市债券今年的发行量已与中期票据持平。
Just as vital for the development of the Chinese bond market, secondary trading has increased dramatically. Many bonds used to be held by banks to maturity, making them little different to loans. But with the increase in exchange-traded bonds, a wider variety of institutions plus retail investors have been clamouring to add fixed-income securities to their portfolios.
二级市场交易也大幅增长，这对于中国债券市场的发展同样至关重要。很多债券过去由银行持有至到期，这让它们几乎与贷款无异。但随着交易所交易债券的增加，更多机构和散户投资者纷纷在自己的投资组合中加入固定收益证券。
“Liquidity used to be extremely weak, but market infrastructure has now improved, the investor base is bigger and liquidity has increased quickly,” said Shi Lei, a senior bond analyst at Ping An Securities.
平安证券(Ping An Securities)高级债券分析师石磊表示：“流动性曾经极为疲弱，但市场基础设施现在已有所改善，投资者基础扩大了，流动性也迅速增加。”
But despite its speedy growth, this year has also served up a reminder that China’s bond market still has a lot of maturing to do.
然而，尽管增长迅速，今年的一起事件也提醒人们，中国债券市场还远远不够成熟。
Shandong Helon, a rayon maker, was on the verge of defaulting on Rmb400m in commercial paper in April. It would have been the first major default in China’s corporate bond market, teaching investors a lesson about risk. But instead, the local government intervened and ensured that state-owned banks would bail out the company.
今年4月，人造纤维制造商山东海龙(Shandong Helon)4亿元人民币的商业票据曾濒临违约。这本将成为中国企业债券市场的首起大规模违约事件，从而给投资者上一堂风险课。然而，当地政府却出手干预，确保国有银行为该公司纾困。
“There have been no defaults, so everyone thinks that bonds cannot default,” Mr Shi said. “Investors are far too relaxed about credit risk.”
“企业债券一直没有出现过任何违约事件，因此所有人都认为，债券不可能违约，”石磊表示，“投资者对于信用风险太过掉以轻心了。”
Additional reporting by Emma Dong
英国《金融时报》董慧(Emma Dong)补充报道
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Post By：2012/7/18 17:30:45
