China started an insurance system for its more than $16 trillion of bank deposits on May 1 and the bond market is already preparing for the next step: the end of interest rate controls.

Banks, which hold the majority of corporate bonds in the world’s second-biggest economy, are currently limited to paying 30 percent more than a benchmark deposit rate. That cap is very likely to be done away with this year, central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said March 12.