Two new banks are likely to be established in North China's Tianjin Municipality to support the development of the Binhai New Area and areas around Tianjin.

 

The Tianjin bureau of the China Banking Regulatory Commission has approved the establishment of Binhai Development Bank and Northeast Asian Bank.

 

So said the Shanghai Securities News yesterday, quoting a source close to the city's banking regulator.

 

The report said Binhai Development Bank may be set up soon, while it will take longer for the establishment of Northeast Asian Bank.

 

"Preparations for Binhai Development Bank are in progress," the report quoted Wang Erlin, deputy director of the administrative committee of Binhai New Area, as saying. But Wang did not reveal details.

 

"How to improve Tianjin's financial services has been a major consideration for the municipal government and the country's policy makers since the State Council announced this month that Binhai New Area would be an experimental zone for comprehensive reform," said Zhao Xijun, a finance professor from Renmin University of China.

 

Binhai Development Bank is expected to help build Binhai into a new growth engine for the country and drive the development of areas around Tianjin, Zhao said.

 

History has shown that Shenzhen Development Bank and Pudong Development Bank helped finance infrastructure construction in those two special zones.

 

"The establishment of new banks is part of a strategic move to build a sound financial market in the Binhai area," Zhao said.

 

(China Daily June 29, 2006)