China to Overhaul Bank System, Let Foreign Role Grow
China, looking to clean up its troubled banking sector, is turning to foreign competition as part of the solution.
The chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, Liu Mingkang, unveiled a comprehensive plan to overhaul the country's rickety banking system that underscores a shift by China from restricting overseas competition to cautiously embracing it. The new policies show how banking authorities, long guardians of the country's financial behemoths, are starting to expose them to foreign competition in ways that exceed the overhauls promised by China when it joined the World Trade Organization two years ago.
"Foreign financial institutions have become an integral part of China's banking system," Mr. Liu told reporters. "Healthy competition drives innovation and progress."
Mr. Liu's plan gives foreign banks greater scope to operate. Measures include raising the ceiling on foreign ownership in Chinese financial institutions to 20% for a single investor from the existing 15%, expanding the number of cities where foreign branches can do some local-currency business and easing capital requirements for branches.
On another tack, Mr. Liu confirmed a rescue plan is in the works for China's biggest banks. That plan will involve capital injections, the hiving off of bad debt and possible stock listings. The experiment would likely begin with one or two of the banks before getting expanded to others, Mr. Liu said. He didn't give any details.
The China Business Post, citing a Ministry of Finance official, reported Monday that the capital injections will be made next year and could involve hundreds of smaller Chinese commercial banks in addition to the big four state-run banks. The four -- Bank of China, Industrial & Commercial Bank, Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank -- have about $120 billion in nonperforming loans, accounting for about 21% of total loans, government figures show. Some private economists put the percentage of nonperforming loans closer to 50%.
Mr. Liu, who received a master's degree in business administration from the City University of London, is part of a new team of internationally minded regulators that includes the central bank chief, Zhou Xiaochuan. Some industry executives said Mr. Liu's decision to raise the ceiling on foreign investment in Chinese institutions shows new faith in how outside shareholders can improve bank management.
In 2001, HSBC Holdings bought 8% of the Bank of Shanghai, becoming the first foreign commercial bank to invest in a Chinese mainland bank. HSBC and the International Finance Corp., an arm of the World Bank, currently hold a combined 18% share of the bank. Citigroup Inc.'s Citibank owns a 4.62% stake in Shanghai's Pudong Development Bank.
While some 62 foreign banks from 19 countries have been approved to operate in China, they jointly account for just 1.4% of the total assets in China's banking system. Executives of those banks still complain of big market barriers.
Even after Monday's announcement, the number of cities foreign banks can operate in China is limited to 13 -- it was nine, until the change -- and capital-registration requirements remain as high as 500 million yuan ($60.4 million) per branch.
Under its WTO agreement, China has three more years before it must let foreign banks operate in the most coveted part of the industry: accepting yuan-denominated deposits from, and making such loans to, Chinese individuals.
中国公布全面整治银行体系的计划
希望对其银行领域进行清理整顿的中国，目前正在转而借助外资金融机构带来的竞争，以此作为解决问题的方式之一。
中国银行业监督管理委员会（China Banking Regulatory Commission, 简称：银监会）主席刘明康周一公布了一项对中国疲弱的银行体系进行全面整治的综合性计划，计划著重强调了中国的银行体系要从限制外资竞争转向谨慎地利用外资竞争。新政策显示出，长期以来以中国金融巨头监护人形象示人的中国银行业监管机构，现在开始将这些金融巨头暴露于外资机构的竞争之下，此举的步幅之大，甚至超过了中国两年前加入世界贸易组织(World Trade Organization, WTO)时所作出的改革承诺。
刘明康周一对记者说，外资金融机构已成为中国银行体系不可分割的一部分，健康的竞争有助于推动金融业的革新和进步。
刘明康计划给外资银行以更大的业务经营范围。具体措施包括：将单个海外投资者对于中国金融机构的投资上限从先前的15%提高至20%；扩大外资金融分支机构可以从事人民币业务经营的城市数量；放宽对于外资金融分支机构的资本金要求。
此外，刘明康亦证实，对于中国几大银行实施救援的计划正在紧锣密鼓的筹备当中。计划涉及到资本金注入、坏帐剥离，以及可能的上市计划。刘明康表示，在将计划推而广之以前，银监会可能会选择一到两家国有银行进行试点改革。但他没有透露财务上的细节。
《财经时报》(China Business Post)周一援引中国财政部(Ministry of Finance)一位官员的话报导称，银监会可能会在明年为中国四大国有商业银行和数以百计的小型商业银行注入资本金。
中国四大国有商业银行包括：中国银行(Bank of China, BCH.YY)、中国工商银行(Industrial and Commercial Bank, ICBC.YY)、中国建设银行(China Construction Bank)和中国农业银行(Agricultural Bank of China, AGBC.YY)。据政府提供的数据，四大国有商业银行不良贷款总额约为1,200亿美元，占全部贷款的约21%。一些独立经济学家甚至认为这一比率接近50%。
市场障碍犹存
刘明康，City University of London工商管理硕士，亦是包括央行行长周小川在内的具有国际化思维的中国新一届金融监管团队中的一员。一些业内管理人士称，刘明康此番提高外资在中国金融机构投资上限的决定显示出，中国金融监管机构对于外资参股改善银行管理的新的信心。
汇丰控股有限公司(HSBC Holdings PLC, HBC, 简称：汇丰控股)于2001年收购了上海银行(Bank of Shanghai)8%的股权，从而成为第一家投资于中国大陆银行的海外商业银行。时至今日，汇丰和世界银行(World Bank)下属机构国际金融公司(International Finance Corp.)共同持有上海银行18%的股权。花旗银行(Citibank, C)持有上海浦东发展银行股份有限公司(Shanghai's Pudong Development Bank, 简称：浦发银行)4.62%的股权。刘明康所称的有望在明年上市的南京市商业银行(Nanjing Commercial Bank)，亦有外资持股。
Everbright Financial Institute首席经济学家高山文(音译，Gao Shanwen)表示，上述举措均为中国主动作出的让步，与WTO协定中迫于他国压力所作让步不同。
尽管目前计有来自19个国家的大约62家外资银行获准在中国经营业务，但这些银行的全部资产仅占市场的1.4%。
银行管理人士目前亦对巨大的市场障碍颇有微词。即便是在周一的银行体系全面整治计划宣布以后，外资银行获准在中国开展业务的城市数量仍限制在13个，而对于外资银行分支机构的注册资金要求依然高达人民币5亿元（1美元=人民币8.28元）。根据中国加入WTO时的协议，3年之后中国就必须允许外资银行在其最为觊觎的领域内开展业务，即：面向中国个人客户进行人民币的存贷款业务。
但即使是到那时，与外资银行相比，中资银行亦将保持一些极大的优势。许多中资银行的分支网络目前业已蔓延至遍及中国国内的诸多小城镇。许多中资银行对于来源于现金充裕的中国客户的存款资金而沾沾自喜。而当外资银行想用人民币放贷时，他们却不得不到银行间市场上以相对较高的利率借入资金。
摩根大通公司(JP Morgan Chase)董事总经理卡尔?沃尔特(Carl Walter)称，无论是否向银行体系注资都不会改变他们在国内具有如此之大竞争力的事实，这些中资银行的融资成本实在是太低。
