At this rate, it will take nine more years to unload the rest, according to analysts China's four asset management companies have recovered about 36 per cent of the 1.4 trillion yuan in bad loans that were transferred to their balance sheets five years ago by the four state banks, according to a statement by the China Banking Regulatory Commission. However, less than 20 per cent of the amount is in cash. The rest is still to come after the investment banks and funds have actually sold the assets backing the loans. The banking regulator said the four asset managers had recovered 509 billion yuan in bad loans of the 1.4 trillion yuan outstanding. The cash portion is 99 billion yuan, or about 7 per cent of the total. While the sale of the bad loans by the asset managers has been touted as the first step in the financial restructuring of the state banks, it has taken them nearly five years to sell 20 per cent of the loans, for an average of 100 billion yuan per year. At this rate, it will take nine more years to unload the rest of the loans - and most analysts say the task will become harder over time as the loans worsen in quality. That timing would keep the asset management companies in existence five years past their originally mandated closing date of 2009. China Huarong Asset Management's high-profile, second auction last month was widely considered a disappointment because only three loans were sold outright and 14 others are still under negotiation. Five failed to receive respectable bids. This pattern is likely to be repeated because many of the better loans were sold first and the paper trail for the remainder has become increasingly weak. There has been a large difference in the success rate of the asset managers in getting cash upfront for the sale of the loans on their books. Since the beginning of the programme until the end of last year, China Cinda has led with a cash payout of 37 billion yuan, or about 31 per cent of the 121 billion yuan in contracts signed for recovery. Cinda's non-performing loans came from China Construction Bank, whose loans are backed by property and are much easier to sell than some of the other loans. Huarong, through its astute management and loans from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, earned 29 billion yuan in cash, or 21 per cent of its total expected 136 billion yuan recovery. Next is Orient Asset Management, with a cash payout of 16 billion yuan, or 19 per cent of the 87 billion yuan recovery. Last, due to its poor agricultural loans from the Agricultural Bank of China, is Great Wall, which earned 16 billion yuan, or 9.6 per cent of the 165 billion yuan it hopes to recover.
