Greater accuracy urged in loan rating 06/30/2003
Accurate assessment of loan risks has become an urgent task for both China's banks and supervisory bodies.

More effort needed to dispose of bad loans 06/27/2003
More effort is needed to speed up the disposal of banks' bad assets, urged an article in the June 10 issue of Economic Daily by Sun Mingxin, titled "Try our best to reduce bad assets."

Financial sector urges tax reform 06/24/2003
The government should reduce tax burdens for domestic financial and insurance companies to increase their competitiveness, according to economic experts.

QDII on hold - at least to year end 06/20/2003
A scheme to allow institutions in China to invest overseas has been postponed because of a split in opinion among the central financial authorities.

Smaller banks suit the nation well 06/16/2003
Too large to be allowed to die or even catch a severe cold is the exact description of the situation of Stateowned banks in China.

Banking laws under revision 06/16/2003
Legal experts drafting the revised version of China's two main banking laws are trying to address some lingering questions related to the industry.

Plan to advance banking integration 06/11/2003
SHANGHAI: A Yangtze River Delta Financial Zone concept - with a focus on regional banking service integration - has emerged from the city's push to become an international financial centre, a local banking authority says.

Fiscal policy needs to shift emphasis 06/09/2003
The outbreak of SARS has sent a strong signal to the Chinese Government that the focus of the pro-active fiscal policy should shift from supporting economic growth to sustainable development, experts said.

Take care with rates reform 06/09/2003
The liberalization of interest rates in China should be pushed forward in an orderly and careful way because there are many obstacles to surmount.

Broader fund access for private firms 05/06/3003
China's stock market, which has long been dominated by listings of State-owned enterprises, will open wider to fund-thirsty private firms seeking capital.

Boost for lease finance business 04/16/2003
More domestic leasing companies will be allowed to do lease-financing business as the authorities lower the capital threshold and ease regulation to boost the industry.

Forex risk awareness urged 04/14/2003
Many enterprises will continue to lack a strong awareness of the volatility of international markets as China integrates further into the world economy, analysts said.

Watchdog yields more powers to capital markets 04/03/2003
China Daily The mainland's securities-market regulator has announced further measures to reform the operation and governance of the country's capital markets.

Futures market too small for QFII 04/01/2003
Unlike the country's stock market, which has been opening up to foreign investment, China's futures industry will remain closed for now due to its relatively small market scale, analysts said.

Interest rate liberalization in the pipe 03/03/2003
The central bank is poised to accelerate its pace of freeing up interest rates to demolish a major obstacle hindering the formation of a competitive environment for the banking industry.

Biz tax rate cut for financial firms 02/24/2003
China should further cut the rate of business tax to be paid by financial and insurance companies, experts said.

Carefully setting free interest rate 02/11/2003
Bringing the interest rate in line with the market is an inevitable strategic step in China's financial reform. Measures must be taken to put it on track.

Debunking the 'China threat' myth 01/20/2003
The people portraying China as a source of global deflation are making a fuss and their argument is not sensible, economists said.

Launch attack on money-laundering 01/16/2003
There are clear signs that China's financial authorities have come to grips with money-laundering.

Experts call for open, sound credit mechanism 01/08/2003
China should take steps to introduce open credit systems to revive social trust and create a better macro environment for the country's rapid economic upswing, top lawmakers said.

F-exchange watchdog should bite, says Zhu 01/06/2003
Premier Zhu Rongji has called for stricter exchange control to help maintain the balance of international payments and facilitate on-going economic reforms and modernization.

Keeping bourse boat steady in storm 01/06/2003
While 2002 has drawn to its end, the debate on the mainland stock market is gathering force. Will it be just all talk? Or will it lead to a major change in the forthcoming year, that is merging non-tradeable shares with traded ones and liberating A shares from their present embarrassing state? China Daily's HU XINGXING reports on some of the latest opinions.

Share merge most pressing issue 01/06/2003
This year must be one of the most challenging for the CSRC (China Securities Regulatory Commission) since its founding. It will have to take care of the market's regular trading while getting around to fixing its structural defects.

Supervision vital for financial sector 12/23/2002
Strengthened supervision is urgently needed to guide, not choke, the country's efforts to greater open up its financial sector.
A hearing on the country's first city credit co-operative bankruptcy case was held last week in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province.

Experts clash on pro-active policy 12/20/2002
Leading economic researchers in China have clashed over the leadership's bold decision to maintain the country's proactive fiscal policy next year.

Forex reserves provide a range of benefits 12/17/2002
China would benefit from a greater amount of foreign exchange reserves which it should strive to steadily increase, said Qiu Xiaohua, deputy director of the National Bureau of Statistics.

A-share market needs pricing strategy 12/17/2002
For outside observers, the weird thing is that the mainland's A-share market continues to go down despite deepening economic reforms and the booming economy. But for mainland investors, there is nothing strange about it.

QFII sparks financial clamour 12/02/2002
No other single policy move, following China's World Trade Organization accession last year, seems to have prompted such quick and vociferous responses from financial circles, home and abroad.

Financial planning crucial 12/02/2002
Planning is not a new word for the Chinese. The government used to plan everything in the economy. And even now, strategic planning is still important.

Bank service fees need rethinking 07/17/2002
The term "international practice" is now generally taken to be synonymous with "advanced expertise," but blind adoption of imported foreign business models by domestic enterprises, with little regard given to national conditions, is a practice that begs serious re-examination.

Domestic insurers must get their act together 07/16/2002
While athletes worldwide have to wait for another six years to compete in the Beijing Olympic Games, Chinese insurers have already hit the track for Olympic gold.

Consultant dispels accounting woes 07/16/2002
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu's (DTT) Chief Executive Officer Jim Copeland prefers to use the term post-World Trade Organization (WTO) instead of post-Enron to analyze the China market.

China should loosen monetary policy 07/16/2002
China should further relax its "sound monetary policy" to stop prices falling, economists said on July 15.

China needs to make 'drastic changes' to NPL process - Ernst & Young 07/10/2002
China needs to make "drastic changes" in the way it is handling the disposal of its non-performing loans if it is to encourage more foreign investors to buy its distressed assets and prevent long term damage to the country, Ernst & Young said in a report published on July 10.

Financial holding groups to become new trend 07/09/2002
China's restriction on financial companies running only one core business has been relaxed and this is seen with the establishment of financial holding groups.

Listing good for market - HK Yam 07/09/2002
BASEL, Switzerland: Hong Kong Monetary Authority Chief Executive Joseph Yam said yesterday he welcomed plans by Bank of China Hong Kong, the territory's second-largest bank by assets, to list its shares in what is expected to be a US$3.17 billion offering.

Dollars' doldrums cloud China's pegging policy 07/08/2002
The slide in the value of the US dollar during the past half of the year has aroused wide repercussions among economists far across the Pacific, and a heated debate is undergoing in China whether it is ripe for the country to readjust its pegged exchange rate regime.

Banking sector opening urged 07/02/2002
A senior central bank official said China should step up the pace of the opening of the banking sector to both foreign banks and domestic private investors.

'China dollar' a feasible step 06/27/2002
Is it possible to start currency integration across the Taiwan Straits by setting up a "China dollar" zone? And if so, could the move be the start of a step-by-step push toward the currency integration of Asia, to finally establish an "Asia dollar" system?

Retail bonds have risks - HKMA chief 05/31/2002
While acknowledging the role of retail bonds in boosting Hong Kong's debt market, the territory's de facto central bank chief on May 30 warned investors of risks in this investment tool.

Economic growth demands superior home investment banks 05/27/2002
Investment banks are crucial to China's economic growth, which in turn contributes to the nurturing of first-class investment banks.

Banks should put consumers first 05/17/2002
A firm grasp of the country's conditions and needs has once been a boast of domestic banks but their recent closure for the week-long Labor Day holiday indicates it might only be a fallacy.

'Bourses should be profitable' 05/15/2002
Experts have urged the authorities to restructure China's largely administrative stock exchanges into profit-making companies.

China should relinquish State control on banks - Wu Jinglian 05/15/2002
China's attempts to reform its banking sector have not yet produced very clear results, and the country should deepen its reforms by allowing ownership of domestic banks to diversify to such an extent that no single shareholder has outright control of each institution, Wu Jinglian, a research fellow at the State Council Development Research Center said, according to the Shanghai Securities News.

Floating commission rate fails to pep up stock markets 05/14/2002
A new floating stock commission rate system came into effect on May 1. According to the new commission regulation, brokers will be allowed to set the rate themselves, but should set it no higher than 0.3 percent.

Citigroup forecasts stable renminbi 05/14/2002
The renminbi exchange rate is to remain stable, although new mechanisms may be introduced in the long term, according to a recent Citigroup research report.

Futures' outlook may turn gold for foreign investors 05/14/2002
At a time in which the next five years are forecast to be a golden period for the futures market in China, the country has to decide whether to open the sector to foreign business - allowing it to speculate on forward transactions.

Indirect financing system to prevail in the long run 05/10/2002
The current financing structure dominated by direct financing will continue to exist for a considerable time in China, as it is commensurate with Chinese economic development in the early stage of the socialist market economy.

Order of account opening stressed 05/09/2002
China should place in order its domestic and external financial plans to avoid the disasters that have plagued other developing countries, economists warned yesterday.

'Cut risk by swift action on NPLs' 05/09/2002
A group of Asian economists on May 8 called on Chinese banks to enact urgent measures to curb their bad loans.

Banks face transition after WTO 05/08/2002
The Chinese banking industry should strive for a smooth completion of the institutional transition to fully comply with international regulations and practices, urged an article in the monthly magazine Contemporary Asia-Pacific Studies.

Less use of cash helps counter money laundering 04/27/2002
Using cards and checks allows banks to trace and monitor the money flow and they may find signs of money laundering, said Nigel Morris-Cotterill, a British money-laundering expert, at a conference in Beijing on April 26.

Renminbi: Up or down? 04/23/2002
Despite the Chinese Government's reiteration that the renminbi will remain stable, economists warn China's currency may face depreciation pressure now that the country' has entered the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Social credit system in urgent need 04/23/2002
China should speed up the establishment of a nationwide social credit system to regulate market order and improve the development environment for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), officials and experts said yesterday.

Funds market in need of due regulation 04/23/2002
An exclusive law for securities investment funds should be drafted to accelerate the legislative process and draw more public investments to the stock market, the deputy director of the drafting panel of the first investment fund law in China, Cao Fengqi, said.

US pickup no quick help to Greater China banks 04/19/2002
The US economic rebound is unlikely to give an immediate boost to banks in Greater China, international rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) said on April 18.

Market reforms remain key 04/19/2002
Reform is poised to be the keyword for China's capital market following the country's World Trade Organization (WTO) accession in December, which analysts view as a watershed in the industry's 10-year history.

Adjusting tax structure crucial to China's economy 04/12/2002
As China continues to adopt the proactive fiscal policy, the issue of tax reduction and how to conduct the cuts in the tax structure has become a focal point, a scholar with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said.

Legal aid procedure needs boost 04/12/2002
Top officials with the Beijing Bureau of Justice yesterday pressed for the acceleration of the legislation procedure on the legal assistance system - part of the social security system that serves disadvantaged groups.

Rate deregulation key to China's finance reform - SG 04/10/2002
Interest rate deregulation is key to China's financial sector reform, SG head of Asian economic research Steven Xu said.

Commission cuts unlikely to boost market 04/06/2002
Stock market regulators announced a deregulatory reform on brokerage fees yesterday, which analysts said would influence brokerages' management philosophy while deepening their woes in the short term.

Making money out of bad loans 04/02/2002
Disposal of non-performing loans (NPLs) should be stepped up to prevent further depreciation.

Expanded tax shake-up high on agenda 04/01/2002
China should actively respond to the inconsistencies between its taxation system and that demanded by the World Trade Organization (WTO) to better position itself in an increasingly globalized economy and a more liberalized trade environment.

Renminbi may become hard currency 03/08/2002
Chinese banks should adopt a positive attitude and take necessary measures to accelerate the pace of creating the conditions for reminbi to become one of the hard currencies in the world, said an economist Zhao Haikuan.

China to brace for more impact of weakening yen - Hang Seng Bank 03/01/2002
The continued weakening of the yen is a "cause for concern" for many countries in the region and the impact on China will become more evident in the future as it becomes more vulnerable to global economic volatility following its entry to the World Trade Organization, Hang Seng Bank senior economic research manager Vincent Kwan said.

China should ease pressure on central finances via local bond issues 02/28/2002
China should allow local governments to issue their own bonds to raise money for local projects and give them direct responsibility for debt repayments, said Ju Jinwen, vice-director of the China Academy of Social Sciences' economic research centre.

Yuan deposits to open door for H-share trading - scholar 22/23/2002
To allow Hong Kong banks to deal in yuan deposits would be the first step to letting investors buy H shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange and would boost the market, a Hong Kong scholar said.

Interest rate cut to spark banks' search for new income sources 02/22/2002
Minsheng Banking Corp and other Chinese lenders needed more revenue sources even before the country's first rate cut since 1999 trimmed interest margins that provide three-fourths of their operating income, bankers said.

China unlikely to impose fuel tax in short term 02/19/2002
China is not likely to impose its long-planned fuel tax very soon, though the scheme and framework have taken shape, said Jin Renqing, minister of the State Administration of Taxation, this week.

State bonds key to economic growth 02/19/2002
China must continue the massive issuance of State treasury bonds to maintain higher economic growth in 2002, said an article in Outlook Weekly magazine.

Pressure for interest rate cut intensifies - expert 01/28/2002
China most likely will cut its benchmark interest rates by 25 to 50 base points by the middle of February in order to spark domestic demand in the sliding economy, experts said.

China unlikely to devalue renminbi - Standard Chartered 01/25/2002 China is unlikely to devalue its currency renminbi despite pressure from a falling yen as it seeks to cement its growing clout by remaining an anchor of stability, Standard Chartered Bank said on Friday.

Financial industry vulnerable to latent risks 01/22/2002
Despite the great economic achievements China has made over the last two decades, financial risks in banking and securities markets are looming ahead.

Personal credit system crucial to market economy - scholar 01/21/2002
As China's economy shifts more into a market-oriented one, personal credit gains more importance, said a professor of economics at Shandong University.

Chinese banking sector should go listing 01/16/2002
The commercial banks of China should go public in the near future to raise their management standard, said Ma Weihua, governor with the China Merchant Bank, on Wednesday.

'Golden Card' project may speed up 01/15/2002
China should speed up establishment of the "Golden Card" project, aimed at connecting domestic commercial banks' automatic teller machines (ATMs) with point of sale machines (POS) nationwide for customer convenience, experts said.

China should cut interest rates 01/14/2002
There are currently hot debates over whether the People's Bank of China (PBOC) should cut interest rates as widely expected.

Removing yuan controls takes another decade 01/13/2002
Chinese state media said on Thursday it would take another decade before the country opened up its capital accounts and entirely removed controls on its currency.

Credit consumption crucial 01/07/2002
Domestic banks may have to hand their profitable consumption credit business to foreign rivals on a plate, if they do not strengthen the service in this aspect immediately, an Outlook Weekly article warned.

Experts call for opening of gold exchange to individual investors 01/07/2002
China's individual investors eying gold investments have to wait yet another two to three years before the gold market is completely opened, said experts and officials.

CSRC caught in index dilemma 10/30/2001
China's securities regulators are in a pickle.

Venture capital calls for clearer regulation 07/24/2001
Venture capital, a fledgling business in China, needs a more lenient regulatory framework and more drives from the nation's financial reform for faster and healthier growth, experts said.

Can independent directors restore market faith? 07/03/2001
China's top regulatory authorities recently released guidelines for the establishment of an independent director mechanism for all domestically listed firms. The move will help improve the regulation of equity markets, which have been manipulated by large shareholders and suffered other market irregularities.