Remarkable achievements from Chinese banking reform
(Xinhua)Updated: 2006-11-27 09:30
China has chalked up a remarkable achievement in reforming its banking
industry, said Vice Chairman Tang Chuangning of the China Banking Regulatory
Commission in Beijing Sunday.
"The successful reform of
China's state-owned commercial banks has greatly improved the international
image of Chinese banks," he said at an annual meeting on Asian finance in the
21st century.
After the successful IPOs (initial public offering) of the
Bank of Communications and China Construction Bank in 2005, the Bank of China
and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China successfully listed on the Hong
Kong and Shanghai stock markets this year, he said.
The Industrial and
Commercial Bank of China, the biggest company on China's A-share market, created
the world's largest IPO, he said.
In previous decades, Chinese banks
piled up a mountain of bad debts as a result of reckless, government-ordered
lending to state-owned enterprises.
Almost all major Chinese banks have
formulated plans to become joint-stock companies and seek market listing to help
streamline operations.
In line with a WTO (World Trade Organization)
commitment, China will fully open its financial markets to foreign competition
by the end of this year.
"The joint-stock reforms have spurred Chinese
banks to improve their corporate governance, risk management and internal
controls, and their financial, debt and human resource management," Tang said.
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