Banking of China

China's banking system has undergone significant changes in the last two decades: banks are now functioning more like banks than before. Nevertheless, China's banking industry has remained in the government's hands even though banks have gained more autonomy. China's accession to WTO will lead to a significant opening of this industry to foreign participation.
The central bank of the People's Republic of China is the People's Bank of China.
The "big four" state-owned commercial banks are the Bank of China, the China Construction Bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Agricultural Bank of China.





Contents

1 History
2 Supervisory bodies
3 Domestic key players

3.1 State-owned commercial banks – The ‘Big Four’
3.2 Policy banks
3.3 Second tier commercial banks
3.4 Trust and investment corporations
4 Reforms in the banking industry
5 Credit cards
6 Foreign banks
7 Electronic banking
8 See also
9 References



History


Main article: History of banking in China

Supervisory bodies
The People's Bank of China (PBOC) is China’s central bank, which formulates and implements monetary policy. The PBOC maintains the banking sector's payment, clearing and settlement systems, and manages official foreign exchange and gold reserves. It oversees the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) for setting foreign-exchange policies.
According to the 1995 Central Bank law, PBOC has full autonomy in applying the monetary instruments, including setting interest rate for commercial banks and trading in government bonds. The State Council maintains oversight of PBOC policies.
China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) was officially launched on April 28, 2003, to take over the supervisory role of the PBOC. The goal of the landmark reform is to improve the efficiency of bank supervision and to help the PBOC to further focus on the macro economy and currency policy.