Global competition
Liu Shiyu: During the decade following China's entry into the WTO, the country's financial industry has made rapid progress in its opening up and reform, and its international competitiveness improved significantly. In the decade, reform of financial institutions, including both state-owned banks and rural credit cooperatives, provided the basis for the financial industry reform.
After the reform process, all state-owned banks have been listed as joint stock banks, and rural credit cooperatives are now active in serving the development of agriculture and farmers.
State-holding banks rank among international bests in terms of returns on both assets and invested capital, as well as of market value.
Recently, international organizations lowered the rankings of some big Chinese banks. This is a good thing to us: It warns us of being calm.
Chinese banks are still less competitive than their foreign counterparts, so China will further reform the management of commercial banks by means of improving corporate governance and optimizing both their ownership structure and assets composition.
After reform, state-owned banks, as listed companies, have established their respective stockholders' meetings, boards of directors, boards of supervisors and senior management teams. We should respect their legal rights as listed companies and also encourage them to participate in international competition under the background of economic globalization and the development of China's export-oriented economy.
As for the reform of small financial institutions, the key point is to improve their capital adequacy and financial soundness so that they can better serve agriculture, the countryside, farmers and the development of SMEs. The government will make some adjustments in relation to the market environment and its supervision rules, with the aim of encouraging financial institutions of various types to make innovations and improve their service. |