Asset securitization expanded

China will include more high-quality credit assets in its pilot program for securitizing credit assets, a move that could support the development of the real economy and meanwhile prevent systematic risks from financial innovation, the central bank said Thursday.

Expanding the pilot program will be helpful for adjusting the credit structure, stimulating the real economy by providing easier access to financing, reducing commercial banks' excessive dependence on the expansion of the business scale, and providing more choices for investors, the People's Bank of China (PBC). the country's central bank, elaborated in a statement on its website.

China started allowing credit asset securitization on an experimental basis in 2005. A total of 11 domestic financial institutions issued asset-backed securities (ABS) products worth 66.78 billion yuan ($11 billion) between 2005 and 2008.

However, the trial program was suspended in 2009 following the US subprime mortgage crisis and the global financial crisis, and was resumed in 2011, according to the PBC.

The central bank noted that China's development of asset securitization is still in the primary stage, and the pilot program should be pushed forward steadily.

"High-risk assets will not be included in the trial program, and re-securitization is not allowed," the statement said.

The central bank will also guide commercial banks to allocate more credit resources generated from the pilot program to small and micro-sized enterprises, agriculture industry, renovation of shanty areas and infrastructure construction.

The statement came after the State Council decided Wednesday to expand the pilot program. But both the State Council and the PBC did not elaborate on what specific kinds of assets will be included in the program.

Low-risk credit assets that can generate sustainable cash flows can be treated as high-quality assets, Teng Tai, an economist at Beijing-based West Brothers Asset Management Co, told the Global Times Thursday.

Teng said the expansion of the pilot program will also benefit commercial banks and securities companies.

"Banks' assets can be activated, and securities firms can increase their sources of income amid the sluggish domestic stock market," he said.

Experts said the pilot program does not carry the risk of a systematic financial crisis like the US subprime mortgage crisis.

"The prevention of re-securitization shows the Chinese authorities are taking a cautious approach to financial innovation," Feng Pengcheng, a finance professor at the Beijing-based University of International Business and Economics, told the Global Times Thursday.

"The scale of China's asset securitization is so small compared with developed economies that it will not pose a threat to the domestic financial system," he said.

In the US, the issuance of ABS products rebounded to $2.2 trillion in 2012 from $1.5 trillion in 2008. In Europe, the issuance of ABS products also reached 230.85 billion euros ($306 billion) last year, according to data provided by China's central bank.

The room for credit asset securitization in China is about 3 trillion yuan, said Chen Ruiming, an analyst at Haitong Securities.