# China’s financial system: big, powerful and still state-run

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-sound-of-economics-1025540/china-s-financial-system-big-powerful-and-still-state-run
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-sound-of-economics-1025540/china-s-financial-system-big-powerful-and-still-state-run.md
Podcast: [The Sound of Economics](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-sound-of-economics-1025540)
Published: 2026-02-18T11:21:26+00:00
Episode link: https://audioboom.com/posts/8862656
Audio file: https://audioboom.com/posts/8862656.mp3?modified=1771413810&sid=4903959&source=rss
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-sound-of-economics-1025540/episodes/china-s-financial-system-big-powerful-and-still-state-run
Duration seconds: 1928

## Resource

China’s banking sector has expanded from a fragile, state-dominated system in the 1990s into the largest in the world. But this increased scale has not brought with it a shift toward market-driven finance, with the core logic of state-directed control over credit remaining a central feature of Chinese banking. In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Yuyun Zhan sits down with Alicia García-Herrero and Fraser Howie to examine how banks continue to serve state priorities, funnelling household savings into politically favoured sectors while sustaining local governments and state-owned firms. This episode is part of the ZhōngHuá Mundus series of The Sound of Economics. ZhōngHuá Mundus is a newsletter by Bruegel, bringing you monthly analysis of China in the world, as seen from Europe. Sign up now to receive it in your mailbox!

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## Transcript

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