Qin Chijiang, professor of the Central University of Finance and Economics and deputy secretary-general of the China Finance Institute, attends the First Session of the 10th National People’s Congress (NPC) as a deputy of the Heilongjiang delegation as well as an economic and financial expert. In an exclusive interview with China.org.cn staff reporter, he gave an economist’s view on the stability of China’s financial situation.
While talking about the credibility situation of China’s state-owned banks, Qin said that in 1998, the Ministry of Finance issued special treasury bonds, totaling 270 billion yuan, in order to raise capital for the four state-owned banks. In addition, over 1 trillion yuan worth of non-performing loans (NPLs) were split from these state-owned banks and handed over to the four asset management companies in 1999.
According to official statistics, the current average non-performing ratio is about 26.6 percent, “But the ratio does tend to drop,” Qin pointed out.
“China’s economy is still in transition and is therefore really very different from totally market-orientated economies,” he said.
Taking China’s large saving deposits for example, he pointed out that “the Chinese usually put their money into the bank no matter what the rate of interest is.” This was supported by statistics released from the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, which show that personal savings’ deposits in the bank exceeded 9 trillion yuan, a sharp rise from the previous year.
“Also, the Chinese seldom use credit as people in foreign countries do, and the majority of Chinese save Renminbi instead of foreign currency,” Qin said. “Thus depositors do not, and will not, rush to the banks to withdraw cash,” he told China.org.cn. He added that the basic principle of the Chinese government is to guarantee the interest of its depositors. Therefore, he maintained, under the national credit system, people feel that their money is secure in the bank.
On the other hand, China’s bright economic outlook makes it possible for the banks to solve the problem of non-performing loans. “If China’s economy maintains a high growth rate, as before, the profits of the financial institutions can be used to eliminate non-performing assets and thus gradually lowering the non-performing ratio,” Qin said.
Qin praised the strict financial supervision implemented by financial authorities in recent years and said that it has efficiently controlled potential financial risk.
When talking of the potential competition between Chinese and foreign banks, he said that in some senses it will put pressure on the Chinese banks and will urge them, accordingly, to improve their service and business operations.
At the moment there are about 53 overseas banks allowed to run Renminbi business in nine Chinese cities. Since China’s entry to the WTO, the overseas banks have greater freedom to establish branches in China, some launching online banking services to better serve their Chinese clients. However, Qin is in no doubt that the Chinese banks still dominate the domestic market.
He concluded that in order to compete with foreign banking business, Chinese banks will have to improve their service, get more business and carry out considerable technological renovation.
Qin criticized the claim that “the high non-performing ratio and low capital of the Chinese banks may cause a financial crisis” as groundless.
(China.org.cn by staff reporter Tang Fuchun, March 6, 2003)
