China's Shadow Banking Next Big Risk for Investors

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Of particular concern to some regulators are so-called wealth management plans (WMPs), which are yield-bearing instruments sold by banks that do not have guaranteed principal.

Xiao Gang, chairman of the board of Bank of China, wrote an op-ed in the English language China Daily in which he said the quality and transparency of WMPs are "worrisome."

"To some extent, this is fundamentally a Ponzi scheme," Xiao said, according to the International Business Times.