China's Superbank

China's rise as a global economic superpower, the success of its top companies, and its continuing domestic boom is intricately tied to China Development Bank (CDB). This less-than-transparent institution, which is wholly owned by the Chinese government, has become the financial enabler of this nation's growth and is arguably the most powerful bank in the world.

While development banks have long existed to finance political projects, infrastructure, and other initiatives, nothing comes close to CDB in scope.

In China's Superbank, authors Henry Sanderson and Michael Forsythe—both Bloomberg journalists working in Beijing—combine on-the-scene reporting and interviews from across the world with numbers crunched from Chinese bond prospectuses to put CDB in perspective, and help you understand the economic phenomenon that is China.

Along the way, you'll not only become familiar with the growing accomplishments and influence of CDB, but you'll also gain valuable insights into the darker side of this political-financial institution—one that has never had to answer to anyone apart from its state shareholders. You'll also discover how China's seemingly unstoppable banking system could potentially be saddled with bad debt from trillions of yuan invested in projects with questionable economic value both at home and abroad.

Throughout the book, the authors:

Explore CDB's hallmark innovation—the system of local government finance—which has transformed China's landscape in just over a decade by pumping trillions of yuan into various domestic projects

Profile Chen Yuan, the Chairman of CDB since 1998, and discuss how he's been instrumental in reasserting the Communist Party in China's economy, while managing to preserve enough independence from the government to make decent investment decisions and function as a commercially driven institution

Analyze CDB's China-Africa Development Fund—China's largest private equity fund investing in Africa—and its attempts to stimulate manufacturing in Ethiopia, and CDB's lending to Ghana

Address CDB's work to secure a steady flow of oil and gas to China through loans-for-energy deals around the world, particularly to Venezuela

Examine CDB's lines of credit that have helped new Chinese firms in telecom and alternative energy win significant global projects, as well as how the bank is developing a new form of private equity financing through CDB Capital.

As China's influence continues to grow around the world, many people are asking how far it will extend. China's Superbank addresses this vital question, looking at the institution at the heart of its growth.

Praise for China's Superbank

"The phenomenal economic rise of China and its growing global role have been driven by a unique mix of political and economic actors. China Development Bank has been at the center of much of this growth especially as the principal banker in China's overseas commodity investments. Henry and Michael's timely book, China's Superbank, details for the first time the role that CDB has played under the focused leadership of its Chairman Chen Yuan. This book is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand how China funds its growth but it also raises important questions as to whether CDB's strategy will be sustainable over the long term."

—Fraser Howie, Managing Director, CLSA Singapore and co-author of Red Capitalism

"Combining in-depth knowledge of China with hard-nosed economic analysis and first-rate journalism, Sanderson and Forsythe have written an astonishingly detailed yet lively portrait of China's muscular state capitalism. This important work tells us in concrete terms how China is expanding its influence around the world, not through military force, but through writing checks. This is a must-read for all those who take an interest in China's rising influence in the world—and its increasingly vulnerable financial system."

—Victor Shih, Associate Professor, Northwestern University

"In China's Superbank Henry and Michael shed a much-needed light on the operations and people behind China Development Bank, an apparent policy bank that in a brief decade has in many ways surpassed the power and functions of the country's Ministry of Finance. The tale of how this formerly moribund institution ignited China's local debt crisis while financing China's foreign policy initiatives is a must for anyone seeking to understand China's opaque financial system."

—Carl Walter, former COO of JP Morgan China, independent consultant and co-author of Red Capitalism

"American Cabinet members say the global reach and growth of China Development Bank keeps them up at night. After reading this book, they might not go to sleep at all. For all the tsunami of news about China's rise in recent years, the country's political and financial institutions remain vastly undereported and little understood. Mike Forsythe and Henry Sanderson's book helps correct that with remarkable detail and insights about the bank that laid the financial foundations for China's economic miracle at home, before then finding a formula to spread its money abroad."

—Richard McGregor, Financial Times reporter and author of The Party

Henry Sanderson has been a Beijing-based reporter for Bloomberg News since April 2010. Prior to that, he was a reporter for the Associated Press in Beijing and Dow Jones in New York. He is a graduate of the University of Leeds (with a bachelor's in Chinese and English literature) and Columbia University (with a master's in East Asian Studies).

Michael Forsythe has been a reporter and editor for Bloomberg News since 2000. Prior to that, he was an officer in the United States Navy for seven years, serving on ships in the U.S. Seventh Fleet. The highlight of his career in Washington was helping to oversee Bloomberg's coverage of the historic 2008 presidential election. Since returning to Beijing in 2009, Mike has focused on policy and politics, with particular emphasis on the international impact of "China Inc." He is a graduate of Georgetown University (with a bachelor's degree in international economics) and Harvard University (with a master's degree in East Asian regional studies). He is married and has two young boys.