China’s banking sector to enhance financial risk control

2017-04-10
Xinhua

BEIJING — China will enhance risk control throughout the banking sector to eliminate financial risks in major fields, the country’s top banking regulator announced on April 10.

Targeted measures will be taken to address financial risks in the banking sector and stick to the bottom line of no systemic financial crisis, according to the guideline released by the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC).

The guideline outlines detailed fields for enhanced risk control, including traditional sectors such as credit, liquidity, real estate and local government debt as well as non-traditional areas including bonds, financial products, internet finance and cross-border financial impact.

Chinese lenders saw the ratio of their non-performing loans fall to 1.74 percent at the end of 2016, slightly down from 1.76 percent a quarter ago.

Top leaders of banking institutions should be in charge of risk control efforts and there will be stricter supervision and punishment over irregularities in the sector, according to the guideline.

In the first quarter of this year, the CBRC imposed administrative penalties for 485 cases of irregularities in the sector with fines totaling 190 million yuan (about $27.52 million).