The nasty cash squeeze that roiled China's banking system in recent weeks could be just a preview of greater instability to come if China's leaders push ahead with liberalizing interest rates and capital controls.
A spike in the interest rates that banks charge for lending to one another sent stocks plunging last month and raised the specter of bank runs as reports circulated online about ATMs with no cash and electronic payments that failed to clear.
But further progress towards de-regulation of China's interest and exchange rates will only increase the challenge for Chinese banks in managing risk, analysts say.
(Read More: China Cash Rates Ease Further as Central Bank Stays Out of Market)
"The recent instability reflects some of the risks with interest rate liberalization that proceeds too rapidly, or more precisely relying excessively on interest rates to achieve objectives," Yukon Huang, former World Bank country director for China and senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Reuters.