Shanghai RMB Loans Rise 14B Yuan in August, Deposits Up 31.4B

The year-on-year loan acceleration alongside a sharp slowdown in deposit growth points to a widening funding gap in Shanghai's banking system, a dynamic that can pressure liquidity conditions even as credit demand firms. For RWA and crypto markets, the more relevant signal is the deposit side: households and firms appear to be moving money elsewhere, whether into wealth products or non-bank channels, which historically coincides with a search for yield outside traditional deposits. Whether that deposit outflow persists, and whether the PBOC offsets it with liquidity support, is the open question.