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China just made a key preparation for disaster in its economy

china communist bunker
china communist bunker

(Reuters)

China has given its bond traders the go-ahead to begin trading credit default swaps, an indication that the government is preparing for more big corporate bankruptcies, Bloomberg reports.

Credit default swaps allow investors to insure themselves against the default of a given security.

Earlier this month, the government for the first time allowed a major state-owned organization, Guangxi Nonferrous Metals Group, to make preparations for bankruptcy.

It was a special moment. Never before had the country allowed a big, state-run industrial company to go bust. Past bankruptcies involved only bank or corporate debt — this one involves 108 creditors.

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That news, combined with the trading of credit default swaps, has analysts believing that many so-called zombies — China's unproductive, massive industrial companies that need debt to survive — may soon be put out of their misery.

Credit default swaps "will help investors mitigate the risk and alleviate market sentiment if investors face more defaults or suffer more losses after defaults," Ivan Chung, head of Greater China credit research at Moody's Investors Service, told Bloomberg.

In other words, investors can now bet on whether a zombie is about to go bankrupt, giving themselves a little extra protection if a company fails. And the government opening up the market for credit default swaps suggests more willingness to let zombies die.

China has had the zombies in its crosshairs for some time now. In 2015, the government said supply-side reform would become central to its economic policy. This is because China is trying to take its economy through the delicate transition from one based on industry and manufacturing sectors to one based on domestic consumption and services like banking and retail.

That means indebted companies in flailing industries like coal and steel must be restructured and their overcapacity dealt with. Unleashing a market for credit default swaps means that investors can hedge this transition and better navigate a world of rapidly deteriorating corporate credit quality.

We might be about to see some real winners and losers here, people.

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