China undecided on establishing super financial watchdog

Chinse banking regulators are still pondering whether to establish a special commission to improve inter-ministry coordination in financial supervision, said Tang Shuangning, deputy director of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC).

Referring to recent reports of a "super regulator" for the country's finance and banking industries, Tang told a bankers forum in Beijing that the plan was still under discussion and "every coin has two sides", implying that such an institution had both advantages and disadvantages.

Since the beginning of the year, China has seen more of its banks, securities dealers and insurance companies extending beyond their traditional services and developing overlapping businesses.

China Life Insurance Company Limited, the country's biggest life insurer, has become the second largest shareholder of CITIC Securities Company, a major Chinese stock dealer.

Ping An Insurance Company has acquired 89.24 percent of the shares of Shenzhen Commercial Bank, and the China Construction Bank is to establish insurance companies on the mainland.

As a result, separate supervision by the three existing watchdogs -- the CBRC, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) -- is being viewed as inefficient over institutions with mixed businesses.

"China's banking industry is developing harmoniously in general", except for imbalances among financial institutions of different sizes, among various regions and between urban and rural areas, said Tang, who called for small and medium sized banks to be restructured and corporate governance to be strengthened.

Source: Xinhua