Maverick Plays Key Role In New Bank Post
In a two-decade career at China's central bank, Xie Ping became notorious for speaking his mind at carefully scripted policy meetings. His knack for causing offense had widely been thought to have stunted his career.
But when Premier Wen Jiabao was casting around for an aggressive manager to look after the government's investments in two top commercial lenders, he picked the 49-year-old Mr. Xie for the post in November. The choice of the independent-minded Mr. Xie illustrates the central government's determination to shake up China's troubled banks -- but also the difficulties to come.
Mr. Xie doesn't have much time: In 2007, China's banking sector will be thrown open fully to foreign competition. Ahead of this enormous challenge for China's long-coddled state-run lenders, the government is doing what it can to strengthen their balance sheets.
A year ago, the government poured a total of $45 billion into Bank of China and China Construction Bank, the country's second- and third-largest banks, respectively, to help them wipe off bad loans and prepare to list their shares on the stock market. Mr. Xie runs Central Huijin Investment, the government investment vehicle set up to manage that enormous sum. Because Huijin owns virtually all the shares in both banks, a stake that could still be as high as 80% after the listings, Mr. Xie essentially calls the shots at both lenders -- an unprecedented position of authority. Huijin appoints five of the six seats on both banks' boards, with the power to weigh in on everything from staff-incentive plans to decisions on information-technology spending.
Turning around a decades-old culture of wasteful and politically driven bank lending is probably the most critical of all Beijing's overhauls. Because banks are the weakest link in China's fast-growing economy, success or failure could have broad repercussions now that China has become a key driver of global growth. China's biggest lenders are still burdened with mountains of bad debt -- estimates of nonperforming loans in the entire banking system go as high as $400 billion -- and an avalanche of lending in 2003 and early 2004 as parts of the economy overheated is sure to add substantially to the total.
Chinese state banks have traditionally measured success by the size of their loan books. Mr. Xie's task will be to force the two banks under his watch to gauge profits instead.
On a recent afternoon, Mr. Xie, who still dresses in the crumpled style of the academic he used to be, plants his feet on a coffee table in his old central-bank office, piled high with boxes in anticipation of his move. The table is cluttered with research papers, old newspapers and a large bottle of shampoo. The shampoo was recently handed out to all central-bank staff -- an outdated practice left over from the days when government employers acted as welfare agencies for their employees, supplying everything from soap to cinema tickets. Mr. Xie is out to change precisely that culture of entitlement.
His effect hit home recently at the headquarters of Bank of China . All the office's employees received notice that they must now reapply for their jobs and justify their positions. Mr. Xie says he is looking overseas to recruit a chief credit controller and a risk management officer.
"It's possible we could replace the manager of a bank if we don't like what he's doing," he adds. That is a bold statement, given that the heads of Chinese banks are appointed by the organization department of China's Communist Party.
The need to instill discipline is crucial. During the past several years, Beijing has put together huge bailout packages for the four biggest banks -- Industrial & Commercial Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China are the largest and fourth-largest, respectively -- only to watch bad loans continue to pile up. "It's not a matter of capital: They have enough already," Mr. Xie says. "Now they need market discipline."
Mr. Xie promises to manage with a light touch. "I represent the shareholders," he says. "I help to choose the board members. After that I won't interfere in day-to-day management."
Those who know him, however, are skeptical of such claims. "He won't be at all shy about telling a bank manager: 'This is your performance, this is your compensation package,' " says one of Mr. Xie's close associates. The fact that Huijin reports to the State Council, or the cabinet, suggests the government has more confidence in Mr. Xie than in the banks' own managers.
Mr. Xie's efforts likely will put him at odds with powerful ministries and provincial officials who have long treated banks as funding arms for the government. But he has proved he isn't intimidated by power. A native of Wenzhou, a coastal city famous for its entrepreneurial traditions, Mr. Xie spent his early years as a shipyard worker studying English in his spare time. He joined the central bank in 1985 and climbed through the ranks, most recently heading the financial-stability department in charge of cleaning up commercial lenders.
He had open disagreements with his former boss, Dai Xianglong, then the governor of the People's Bank of China -- rare in the formal and deferential culture of Chinese government. According to bank insiders, Mr. Dai favored working through existing bureaucracies to overhaul China's banks. Mr. Xie argued for dismantling bureaucracies, bringing in outside shareholders and foreign investors to the banks and creating independent boards to impose real supervision.
Mr. Xie is unusually qualified to exert his will in this new job. He is said to have the ear of Premier Wen, who includes him in a close circle of advisers. He is one of China's most able intellects, a prolific author who has twice won China's top economic-research prize.
Mr. Xie's position as an outsider in the elite world of Chinese politics also could be a factor in his willingness to speak out and challenge higher-ups. Wenzhou's entrepreneurial energy is looked upon by elites with a mixture of admiration and disdain, as natives of the city are rare in academia and government.
But these very characteristics could also alienate others. In central-bank meetings, those who have watched him over the years say Mr. Xie often cuts down his colleagues to their face. "It's not personal," explains one longtime associate. "He just makes logical arguments."
一位特立独行者出任中国银行业要职
在谢平20年的央行生涯中，他以常在各种充斥著老生常谈的政策会议上直抒胸臆而闻名，人们普遍认为这种不畏强权的行事风格影响了他的仕途。
但当温家宝总理为中国政府在两家主要商业银行的投资寻找一位敢作敢为的管理人时，他在去年11月份选中了49岁的谢平。选择不人云亦云的谢平委以此任，既表明中国政府有决心整顿该国问题重重的银行业，也说明了这项任务的艰巨性。
留给谢平的时间已经不多了：到2007年年底，中国的银行业将全面向外资开放。中国政府正赶在这一巨大挑战到来之前竭尽全力整顿该国受到过度保护的国有银行业，以期改善这些银行的资产负债状况。
1年前，中国政府向中国银行(Bank of China)和中国建设银行(China Construction Bank)注资450亿美元，以帮助它们冲销坏帐并为股票上市做好准备。这两家银行分别是中国的第二和第三大银行。谢平出掌中国政府为管理上述巨额注资而成立的中央汇金投资有限责任公司(Central Huijin Investment)。由于汇金实际上拥有上述两家银行的全部股份，即使是两银行上市后汇金也将持有它们高达80%的股份，谢平事实上成为了这两家银行的幕后操纵人，拥有空前的权威。汇金有权任命两家银行各自董事会里6位董事中的5位，两银行的任何决策，从员工奖励计划到信息技术支出，实际上都是汇金说了算。
对致力于整顿国有银行业的中国政府来说，扭转这些银行数十年来在放贷时形成的铺张浪费和政治挂帅作风可能是最艰巨的一项工作。在中国快速增长的经济中银行业是最薄弱的一个环节，鉴于中国已经成为推动全球经济增长的一个重要因素，因此中国银行业的改革无论成败都有可能产生广泛的影响。中国这几家规模最大的贷款机构仍然背负著巨额坏帐，中国整个银行体系的不良贷款额估计高达4000亿美元，而2003年和2004年初的大规模放贷无疑又会使银行的不良贷款额大幅增加。
以往，贷款规模的大小是衡量中国国有银行经营是否成功的标准。谢平的任务是迫使这两家在他监管之下的银行转而采用利润指标作为衡量经营成败的标准。
几天前的一个下午，当笔者在谢平位于央行的办公室见到他时，此人仍像以往那样一身不修边幅的学者打扮，双脚搁在房中一张旧茶几上，由于调任新职在即，办公室里堆满了盛放物品的纸箱。那张茶几上杂乱地放著文件、旧报纸和一大瓶洗发精。央行员工最近人手一瓶这样的洗发精，向员工发放福利用品是政府机关充当员工的福利保障机构时惯常的做法，发放的物品从肥皂到电影票，无所不包。谢平未来的任务之一就是改变这种不合时宜的企业文化。
他的这一努力最近在中国银行的总部掀起了轩然大波。总部员工都接到了一纸通知，要求他们必须重新申请自己的工作岗位，并证明自己胜任这一职位。谢平说，他正准备从海外招募一位首席信贷总监和一位风险管理负责人。
他还说：“如果我们不满意银行一位经理的工作表现，我们就可能撤换他。”鉴于中国各银行的负责人都是由中共组织部任命的，这可谓一项大胆的声明。
树立纪律观念是至关重要的。过去几年中，尽管中国政府向四大国有银行──中国工商银行(Industrial & Commercial Bank of China and)、中国银行、中国建设银行和中国农业银行(Agricultural Bank of China)注入了大笔救援资金，但这些银行的不良贷款却是越来越多。谢平说，这不关资金的事，这些银行的资金已经足够了，它们现在需要的是纪律。
谢平保证说，他对这些银行的管理只是点到为止。他说：“我帮助挑选董事会成员，除此之外我不会干预日常管理。”
但熟悉谢平的人却对这一说法持怀疑态度。他的一位关系密切的同事说：“他会毫不犹豫地对一位银行经理说，这是你的业绩，这是你的薪酬。”汇金直接受国务院(中国的内阁)领导这一事实表明，中国政府更信任谢平而不是各银行的管理人士。
谢平的上述努力有可能会将他置于权利巨大的中央部委和省级官员们的对立面，这些人长期以来一直将银行视为政府的融资机构。谢平已显示出他是不畏强权的。这位温州人的英语是他早年当造船工人是利用业余时间自学的，而温州这座沿海城市则以其企业家传统而闻名。他于1985年到中国央行工作，一步一个脚印地升到了央行金融稳定局局长的位子，该部门负责商业银行的坏帐清理工作。
谢平曾公开与他的前任领导──时任央行行长的戴相龙唱反调，这在习惯于下级服从上级的中国政府机构里是不多见的。据银行内部人士称，戴相龙倾向于通过现有的政府机构来改革中国的银行业。谢平则呼吁解散这些现有官僚机构，为商业银行引入外部股东和外国投资者，使其具有独立的董事会，从而能够真正履行董事会的监管职责。
谢平是可以在这一新岗位上贯彻自己意志的不可多得人选。据说他可以直接向温家宝总理进言，是温总理顾问圈子里的一员。他是中国最有能力的学者之一，著作颇丰，曾两次获得中国最高的经济学研究奖。
谢平是中国政坛精英圈子的局外人，这也可能是他喜欢大胆直言和挑战上司的原因之一。
但谢平这些鲜明的性格特点也会使他疏远他人。据与他熟识多年的人士说，在央行的会议上，谢平经常令他的同事下不来台。他的一位多年来的同事说，谢平并不是针对哪个人，他只是要把问题争论明白。
