Joe Zhang was chairman of a micro-credit company in China in the past two years. This book is a personal story. Is shadow banking in China likely to become the source of the next global financial crisis or simply a little understood area of the enormous Mainland economy? Financial industry expert Joe Zhang pulls back the curtain on this sector and explains how shadow banking in China impacts the regional and world economies. Within shadow banking, China's microcredit industry is an area of tremendous interest for most business analysts. In this book, Joe Zhang pinpoints the areas of concern based on his experience in the field and his knowledge of the complicated rules and regulations of banking in China gathered during his years as an official of the central People's Bank of China in Beijing. Drawing on his time spent at UBS, as well as the work of prominent economists, Joe Zhang explains shadow banking and microcredit in China for investors, economists, laypeople, and the general public.

Joe Zhang, 50, is an independent corporate advisor based in Hong Kong. From 2011 to 2012, he was Chairman of Wansui Micro Credit Company in Guangzhou, China. He was named "A Microcredit Person of the Year"; in January 2012 by the Microcredit Association of China. He worked for 11 years at UBS, mainly as Head of China Research and then Deputy Head of its China Investment Banking Division. From 1986 to 1989, he was an official of the central People's Bank of China in Beijing. From 2006 to 2008, he was the Chief Operating Officer of Shenzhen Investment Limited, a property developer. His work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, and The New York Times.