Chinese Bank Mergers: Another Sign of Economic and Financial Fragility

In an acknowledgement of China’s precarious financial situation, Beijing has begun to engineer a massive program of bank mergers, starting in Henan Province.People hold banners and chant slogans during a protest at the entrance to a branch of China’s central bank in Zhengzhou, in central Henan Province, China, on July 10, 2022. Four rural banks in the province stopped allowing customers to withdraw cash since April 2022. Yang/AP Photo10/30/2025|Updated: 10/30/2025CommentaryIn a clear sign that Chinese officials anticipate trouble, the Henan office of China’s National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA) has announced mergers in Henan Province involving as many as 82 small financial institutions.Milton Ezrati is a contributing editor at The National Interest, an affiliate of the Center for the Study of Human Capital at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), and chief economist for Vested, a New York-based communications firm. Before joining Vested, he served as chief market strategist and economist for Lord, Abbett & Co. He also writes frequently for City Journal and blogs regularly for Forbes. His latest book is “Thirty Tomorrows: The Next Three Decades of Globalization, Demographics, and How We Will Live.”Author’s Selected Articles