Chinanews, Beijing, Jan. 19 – In future, overseas strategic investors will no longer become a must for domestic commercial banks. The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) recently revised the administrative regulation on domestic commercial banks, saying that these banks will not have to choose overseas strategic investors as their bank sponsors.

 

The revision has come at the critical time when China Postal Savings Bank and the Bank of Agriculture are both undergoing restructuring. Analysts say that the revision is made in order to clear administrative obstacles for the two banks.

 

In the revised edition of Regulation on Administrative Requirements for Chinese Commercial Banks, the clause “sponsors of the bank should include at least one qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII)” is changed to a one which states that “sponsors of the bank should include qualified strategic investors.”

 

According to officials, as Chinese banking industry further opened, more and more qualified domestic investors had appeared. To meet this changes, CBRC decided to make a modification to the original clause after soliciting ideas from various quarters. The revision was made in accordance with related procedures for regulation assessment scheme.

 

In fact, the original clause, which required that Chinese commercial banks “must” introduce overseas strategic investors as their bank sponsors, aroused controversy when it was published. Financial analysts say that it is indeed inappropriate to draw up administrative regulations to force banks to adopt overseas strategic investors, rather that banks should make their own decisions regarding this issue.