China's banks have long relied on steady deposit growth to fund themselves, but with deposit growth falling short of loan growth, China's financial institutions are turning to market-based funding, which also means greater swings in costs. Funding from deposits costs approximately one per cent, while that from the onshore interbank bond market is closer to 2.5 per cent and international capital markets is more like three per cent. Along with lower interest rates, this hits banks' net interest margins, the Wall Street Journal observes. The capital positions and earnings buffers of Hong Kong banks would see them well prepared to withstand a downturn in the credit cycle, such as a slowdown in the Chinese economy or turmoil in the HK property market, concluded Fitch Ratings after stress testing. Fitch subjected 13 Hong Kong banks to both mild and severe scenarios in which their average non-performing loan ratios reached either 1.9 per cent or an unprecedented eight per cent over a three-year assessment period. It found loan impairment charges would rise to 6.9 per cent of loans under the severe scenario, and would likely to lead to ratings downgrades but no failures. Samsung has added the support of Citibank to that of Singapore's other major banks, ahead of the release of its mobile payments service in the island city-state. Finextra reports the phone maker is hoping the deal with Citi will give it the edge over rival Apple, which last week announced that it had lined up five major banks, extending the use of its mobile wallet beyond a limited earlier release for Amex cardholders. Samsung said it had signed up 'thousands' of consumer to enter into beta tests of Samsung Pay ahead of its launch later this quarter.