Construction of a US$7 billion train link between Laos and China will go ahead next year after a mainland bank threw a financial lifeline to the stalled project, state media reported yesterday. The two countries had initially agreed to jointly fund the line, which will run from the Chinese border to Vientiane, but Beijing pulled out over reported concerns about profitability. State-run Exim bank has now stepped in with a loan offer for Laos, an official from the public works and transport ministry told the Vientiane Times. AFP
China Construction Bank's wealth management products account for 7 per cent of its total funding, the bank said, although concerns remain that other mainland banks are relying heavily on sales of such products to supplement their eroding deposit base. CCB, the country's second-largest bank by market value, had 824 billion yuan (HK$1 trillion) in wealth management products outstanding by the end of the third quarter, CCB said. Reuters