China bank losses could overshadow that of sub-prime crisis

New York

KYLE Bass, the hedge fund manager who successfully bet against mortgages during the sub-prime crisis, said China's banking system may see losses of more than four times those suffered by US banks in the last crisis.

Should the Chinese banking system lose 10 per cent of its assets because of non-performing loans, the nation's banks will see about US$3.5 trillion in equity vanish, Mr Bass, the founder of Dallas-based Hayman Capital Management, wrote in a letter to investors obtained by Bloomberg.