Pity the Chinese state-owned bank trying to obey ever-changing instructions from policymakers in Beijing.

For years, banks preferred to lend to giant state-owned enterprises — both because of the implicit government guarantee that such debt has traditionally carried, and because SOEs were seen as national champions that deserved support.

But now the script is shifting as China’s economy slows. Many foreign investors are focused on the impact of the trade dispute with the US, but the effect of a domestic crackdown on shadow banking — which has closed off access to credit for privately owned companies that relied on non-bank channels — is probably more important. Private companies generate 60 per cent of China’s economic growth and 90 per cent of new jobs, according to an industry association that represents them.