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Baoshang Bank's swap program launched

Baoshang Bank has swapped all of its existing negotiable certificates of deposit (NCDs), which are debts borrowed from other banks worth 43.59 billion yuan ($6.33 billion), into new ones. The new NCDs will be traded from Thursday, the People's Bank of China reported on Wednesday. So far, 249 creditors have finished the swap, accounting for 96.5 percent of Baoshang Bank's NCD holders, the central bank said. The swap program will protect creditors' benefits by ensuring they can be paid back, and improve liquidity in the interbank market, said the PBOC. The newly issued NCDs will be fully guaranteed by the central bank, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and the country's deposit insurance fund. The central bank and CBRIC took over the Inner Mongolia-based bank in late May. The PBOC reported earlier that around 99.98 percent of Baoshang Bank's wholesale creditors received full repayment of their principal, including more than 400 large creditors that were owed more than 50 million yuan.

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