China's shadow banking scale is around 15 trillion yuan ($2.38 trillion) to 17 trillion yuan, around one third of the country's GDP, ANZ said in a report on Wednesday.

That amount, according to the research, is some 12 to 13 percent of China's formal banking system.

In China, there is no complete, unified or accurate definition of its shadow banking system. Generally speaking, it refers to all non-bank loans, such as wealth management products with cooperation between banks and trust companies, underground finance, micro-credit companies, pawn shops, private financing, private-equity investment, hedge funds, and off-balance-sheet lending transactions.

huyuanyuan@chinadaily6.com.cn