Hong Kong

CHINA is facing calls to bring back an instrument to fight bad loans it had deemed too dangerous after the global financial crisis: debt tied to failed assets.

China Construction Bank Corp (CCB) said in August it's exploring bad-debt securitisation, in which lenders package soured loans into notes sold to investors. While a central bank official said in May such products are under study, regulators this month declined to comment on the plans. Only three Chinese firms have issued such bonds before a 2009 halt to all asset-backed securities that ended in 2012 with products tied only to performing assets.