Chinese trusts and wealth management companies have been struggling under the weight of tightening regulations and China’s persistent property crisis – two phenomena that have hit the country’s ‘shadow banking’ industry particularly hard and could have knock-on effects for Europe. Shadow banks, such as Sichuan Trust and Zhongzhi, are non-bank financial institutions, such as credit guarantee companies, hedge funds and asset management companies, that provide some of the key services of banks despite not being traditional lenders. It’s a significant sector: according to the International Monetar…