EghtesadOnline: The bad-loan challenge for China’s biggest banks, which worsened steadily over much of the first half of the decade, may finally be easing.

EghtesadOnline: China’s central bank raised interest rates for standing lending facility loans, aimed mainly at small- and medium-sized financial institutions, it announced Saturday.

EghtesadOnline: China will focus on freeing up foreign investment in banking, insurance, securities and futures market trading firms as part of a wider opening up of the services sector, the country's state planner said in a document released on Friday.

EghtesadOnline: Add another credit indicator to the financial warning signs flashing in China. The adjusted loan-to-deposit ratio, which includes a range of off-balance sheet items and is an indicator of the banking system’s ability to weather stress, climbed to 80 percent as of June 30, according to S&P Global Ratings.

EghtesadOnline: For the past four years, analysts at Fitch Ratings and Wall Street banks have shared a consensus: a credit crisis will break out in China at any time.