BEIJING, Sept 18 Reuters The involvement of two Chinese stateowned financial firms in Zhongrong International Trust Co39;s operations and management may diffuse risk at the troubled shadow bank but does little to ease concerns about missed payments, analysts and investors said.

The shadow bank, which traditionally had sizable real estate exposure, missed payments on dozens of socalled trust products since late July, roiling markets and raising fears that China39;s financial system may be at risk from the property sector crisis.

Angry retail investors in Zhongrong39;s trust products last month held protests in Beijing and lodged complaint letters with regulators, pleading with the authorities to step in after the missed payments.

Zhongrong said in a statement late on Friday it had signed an agreement with Citic Trust and CCB Trust the shadow banking arms of two stateowned firms Citic Group and China Construction Bank for socalled entrusted management services.

It was not immediately clear whether the support by the two firms was engineered by the Chinese authorities, but Beijing has previously bailed out troubled financial firms by roping in state entities to contain broader contagion risk.

The agreement allows the two financial firms to provide professional services for operations and management of Zhongrong, it said, adding the move would not impact its debt ownership and legal relationship in trust products.

The latest development was a standard procedure used…