What is the China Development Bank (CDB)?

The CDB is the world's biggest international lender to developing countries and it is responsible for catalysing China's own growth. It's a wholesale lender specialising in providing medium- to long-term financing facilities, primarily for developing infrastructures, basic and key industries.

Where have you heard about the China Development Bank?

The bank's name is often mentioned as a lender to companies and countries seeking finance, such as agreeing the largest ship finance deal at that point for $26bn with Chinese shipping group Cosco.

What you need to know about the China Development Bank.

China Development Bank (CDB) was set up in 1994 as a policy bank under the direct leadership of China's State Council. In January 2017, according to the Bank's own website it had a registered capital of RMB 421.248bn ($61.250bn).

By the end of 2015, its assets grew to RMB 12.26 trillion, ($1.78 trillion) a balance of loans of RMB 9.21 trillion ($1.34 trillion). It prides itself on selecting good projects to fund, claiming on its website that it has a cumulative recovery rate - the percentage of debts that are repaid - of 98.78%. There are now worries that some of the companies it financed are losing money, and companies in the US it loaned money to being wound up. It had to renegotiate loans worth billions of dollars to Venezuela.

The infrastructure sectors it has lent money to in China include telecommunications, solar and wind companies and financing the country’s oil-for-loans program.