Is there enough money in the market? Is corporate financing going smoothly? Why is residents’ willingness to save rising? The answers to these questions can be found in the latest financial statistics for the first three quarters released by the People's Bank of China.
Data from the central bank show that the overall market funds remain abundant, the scale of social financing is growing steadily, and the channels for funds to enter the real economy are changing: the growth rate of bank loans has slowed down, corporate bond and stock financing has increased, and loans invested in areas such as technological innovation and small and micro enterprises have maintained rapid growth.
The monetary aggregate remains abundant, but credit indicators are relatively weak. What is the logic behind this? As the social financing structure changes, how should ordinary families manage their assets?
The financial statistics report released by the People's Bank of China for the first three quarters of 2026 takes stock of the total amount of funds the real economy received from the financial system in the first three quarters. It also clearly shows the source channels of funds, as well as the structural changes in the investment of credit funds into different entities such as enterprises and residents. Generally speaking, it reflects how much money the entire society received from the financial system in the first three quarters, where the money came from, and who the money was given to.
First of all, in the report, broad money (M2) and social financing scale are the two core observation indicators, and the growth rates of both remain at reasonable levels. Preliminary statistics show that at the end of September 2026, the M2 balance was 359.63 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.2%; the social financing stock was 468.17 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.1%.
Simply put:
From the scale of social financing, we can observe the money that enterprises, governments, and residents actually receive from the financial system, which is the "financing fodder" of the real economy;
M2 broad money counts the cash and various deposits of the whole society, and represents the abundance of the overall "money pool".
These two indicators help people see clearly the supply of funds and determine whether the monetary and financial environment is loose. Combined with current data, the key words given by industry experts are that the overall financial environment is loose, reasonable and appropriate.
Tian Lihui, a professor of finance at Nankai University, analyzed that the current macro policies continue to be positive and promising, which strongly supports the reasonable growth of financial aggregates. On the basis of a number of structural monetary policy measures introduced at the beginning of the year, the central bank further adjusted and improved a number of monetary policy tools in September, focusing on supporting the construction of "six networks", technological innovation and equipment updating, and private small, medium and micro enterprises, which fully reflects the orientation of moderately loose monetary policy.
However, under the loose and moderate total amount, the internal structural characteristics of financing deserve more attention. From the perspective of the incremental structure of social financing, the proportion of bond and stock financing continues to rise, and the diversification of financing channels is more distinctive, indicating that the diversified financing structure is constantly optimized.
In the increase in social financing from January to September, bond and stock financing accounted for 49.48%, which has exceeded the proportion of loans by about 7 percentage points. In particular, corporate bonds have grown rapidly, with a year-on-year increase of 9.3% at the end of September; the new growth from January to September was approximately 1.75 times the increase in the same period last year.
In the past, when looking at the financial situation, people were accustomed to focusing on the "water pipe" of bank loans. Nowadays, the source of funds has become a multi-channel water pipeline. Bonds and stocks are important water pipelines. It is easy to be misled by just focusing on one water pipe.
Lou Feipeng, a researcher at the Postal Savings Bank of China, observed that the essence of money is created by the expansion of bank credit. As the financing channels for the real economy become increasingly diversified, the carriers of bank credit creation are also constantly expanding.
The current social financing scale and M2 maintain a normal and above-normal growth rate, which means that overall credit is not weak. What has changed is mainly the internal structure of credit creation, including the acceleration of bond and equity financing, and the corresponding slowdown in loan financing. This also reminds everyone that when evaluating monetary and financial conditions, we should not just look at the single channel of loans, but establish a more objective and multi-dimensional comprehensive perspective to comprehensively grasp the overall credit environment.
At the end of September, the balance of various RMB loans was 283.44 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.8%. Structurally, the balance of inclusive small and micro loans increased by 6.7% year-on-year, and the balance of medium and long-term loans in the service industry excluding the real estate industry increased by 9.2% year-on-year.
Lou Feipeng said that changes in financing structure are an objective reflection of the transformation of economic structure. In the past period of time, the demand for credit in areas such as real estate and financing platforms with relatively high "loan density" has naturally declined. However, the financing methods of new productivity fields represented by technological innovation and advanced manufacturing have become more diversified. They tend to use bonds, equity and other financing methods to meet their differentiated financing needs at different growth stages, forming a healthy complement and substitution for bank loans.
Since the beginning of this year, loans in the "five major articles" of finance have continued to maintain double-digit growth, and the proportion of new loans has risen to more than 70%. The growth rate of technology loans, green loans, and inclusive small and micro loans has continued to be higher than the growth rate of various loans. The adaptability of financial services for the high-quality development of the real economy has continued to improve.
Tian Lihui said that changes in capital investment reflect the continued enhancement of finance’s ability to adapt to high-quality development. my country's monetary credit has moved from extensional expansion to connotation improvement. Finance supports the real economy. It no longer solely focuses on the expansion of total loan volume, but also focuses on quality, efficiency and structural optimization. The loan growth rate of "Five Big Articles" maintained double digits. At the same time, the coordination of fiscal and monetary policies has been enhanced, and measures such as adjustments to structural monetary policy tools such as housing loan discounts have been implemented one after another, which will help reduce the financing costs of residents and enterprises and stabilize market expectations.
Wen Bin, chief economist of China Minsheng Bank, noticed another detail. At the end of September, M2 increased by 7.2% year-on-year, and M1 increased by 3.2% year-on-year. The scissor gap with M1 widened to 4%. In layman's terms, a widening scissor gap means that funds are not fully "live".
Industry experts said that the follow-up focus will be on further opening up the blockages in capital transmission, transforming the aggregate financial advantages into investment and consumption vitality of entities, and laying a solid foundation for economic development. This financial statistics report outlines that the current situation is that the total amount is sufficient, the capital structure is changing, and companies have more diverse channels for borrowing money; the challenge is how to turn this money into corporate investment, household consumption, and drive economic vitality.
Producer丨Wang Lei
Reporter丨Xing Sijia
