China’s Xi’an Bond Brokerage Default Threatens Billions in Savings, Flags Regime Debt Crunch

China’s Xi’an Bond Brokerage Default Threatens Billions in Savings, Flags Regime Debt Crunch

If a U.S. broker goes bust, the Treasury bills in held by an individual still exist; the federal government—not the broker—owes the money. That safety net is missing in China. So when Jingwei Treasury Bond Service—a nearly 30-year-old, city-owned brokerage in Xi’an—stopped redeeming what locals believed were treasury bonds, the stamped receipts held by more than 6,000 investors suddenly became scraps of paper. For months, many of those investors…