Chinese banks expand overseas
China is urging developed countries to make it easier for Chinese banks to set up overseas branches, a senior official said on Thursday.
Zhang Xiangchen, deputy negotiation representative for international trade at the Ministry of Commerce, said at a news conference in Beijing: “Each country has its own requirements for regulatory approval on the establishment of a branch by a foreign bank, and we certainly respect those requirements. But it takes too long for some countries to go through the approval procedure, and their requirements are too harsh.
“We’ll step up negotiations with relevant countries through joint commissions for bilateral trade and economic relations, urging them — especially developed countries — to offer convenience for Chinese banks to set up branches,” Zhang said.
Currently, China’s banking regulations are quite different from those of developed countries, said Wu Qing, director of the comprehensive research office of the Research Institute of Finance at the Development Research Center of the State Council.
“The two sets of regulatory systems do not have much in common, thus making it difficult for financial institutions to operate multi nationally. China should upgrade its banking regulations to realize financial integration with other countries, which will not only help Chinese financial institutions go global, but also benefit foreign financial institutions in entering the Chinese market,” Wu said.
Statistics on China’s outbound direct investment showed that by the end of 2015, the country’s Stateowned commercial banks had established 79 branches and 57 affiliated institutions in 42 countries and regions.
Also by the end of last year, financial ODI had reached $159.66 billion.
Wang Chunying, spokeswoman for the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said: “The expansion of the Chinese banking sector’s outward business is basically consistent with the development of Chinese companies overseas in terms of the number of institutions and the growth of assets.”