Strengthening the Banking System in China: Issues and Experience
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BIS BIS POLICY PAPERS No. 7 – October 1999 STRENGTHENING THE BANKING SYSTEM IN CHINA: ISSUES AND EXPERIENCE A joint BIS/PBC conference held in Beijing, China, 1–2 March 1999 BANK FOR INTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENTS Monetary and Economic Department Basel, Switzerland ISSN 1027-6297 POLICY PAPERS No. 7 BIS Policy Papers are based on papers prepared for meetings sponsored or co-sponsored by the BIS. They are published by the Bank with the aim of stimulating discussion of the topics with which they deal. The views expressed in this paper are those of their authors and not necessarily the views of the BIS, the People’s Bank of China or any other institution represented. Copies of publications are available from: Bank for International Settlements Information, Press & Library Services CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland Fax: +41 61 / 280 91 00 and +41 61 / 280 81 00 © Bank for International Settlements 1999. All rights reserved. Brief excerpts may be reproduced or translated provided the source is stated. ISSN 1027-6297 Also published in Chinese. Available in English on the BIS website (www.bis.org). BIS POLICY PAPERS No. 7 – October 1999 STRENGTHENING THE BANKING SYSTEM IN CHINA: ISSUES AND EXPERIENCE A joint BIS/PBC conference held in Beijing, China, 1–2 March 1999 BANK FOR INTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENTS Monetary and Economic Department Basel, Switzerland Table of contents Page PREFACE . 1 PARTICIPANTS IN THE MEETING . 7 OPENING ADDRESS Dai Xianglong . 11 THE MACROECONOMIC CONTEXT The challenge of bank restructuring in China Nicholas R Lardy . 17 Heading off China’s financial crisis Rudi Dornbusch and Francesco Giavazzi . 40 The macroeconomy and reform of the banking sector in China Lawrence J Lau . 59 A review of recent banking reforms in China YK Mo . 90 Macro-adjustments in China: experience and lessons Lu Baifu . 110 The macroeconomic trend in 1999 and policy options Wu Jinglian . 116 THE FRAMEWORK FOR FINANCIAL SUPERVISION Warding of policy-oriented financial risks and promoting effective growth of the national economy Chen Yuan . 127 Strengthening the financial experience in less developed countries: China’s experience in small and medium financial institution the Latin American experience resolution Roberto Zahler . 131 Liu Shiyu . 298 The framework for financial supervision: macro and micro issues Closure of financial institutions in China Jeffrey Carmichael . 141 Zhu Jun . 304 The framework for financial supervision: macro and micro issues OPTIONS FOR CHINA’S FINANCIAL SYSTEM Andrew Sheng . 154 A panel discussion chaired by Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa FINANCIAL SUPERVISION: METHODOLOGY with Edgar Meister, Akira Nagashima, Roberto Zahler, John Heimann, Financial supervision in China: Xie Ping and Dai Genyou . 321 framework, methods and current issues Cai E-sheng . 169 CLOSING ADDRESSES The supervision of banks: Andrew Crockett . 337 the United Kingdom’s experience and challenges in China Liu Mingkang . 341 Carol Sergeant . 174 The framework for financial supervision in China: offsite supervision and credit information Michael Pomerleano . 189 Strengthening the banking system: issues and exposures Danièle Nouy . 211 Deposit insurance system design and considerations Nicholas J Ketcha Jr . 221 Approaches to measuring, limiting and managing risks, especially those facing small and medium-sized institutions Brian Peters . 240 THE RESOLUTION OF BANKING CRISES The Japanese banking crisis in the 1990s Kazuo Ueda . 251 The banking reform in Korea: issues and challenges Yung Chul Park . 263 Experiences of resolution of banking crises Stijn Claessens . 275 V PREFACE This conference was held in Beijing on 1 and 2 March 1999 and was organised jointly by the Bank for International Settlements and the People’s Bank of China. The purpose of the conference was to bring together speakers who would not only be familiar with the experiences of many different countries, but who could also approach these policy issues from many different angles. Several pressing issues were addressed and the discussions, both in the conference itself and in the fringes of the meeting, were lively and frank. Its success owed much to the dedicated and very professional preparation by staff in the Training Centre and in the International Department of the People’s Bank of China. With the financial system undergoing radical reform, the authorities in China face important policy choices, both strategic and technical. In his opening address, Governor Dai Xianglong outlined the main issues facing China, explaining that (i) a healthy macroeconomic environment was indispensable; (ii) the nature of supervision of the financial system depended on a country’s specific circumstances; and (iii) the developing financial industry had given rise to certain risks which the authorities were addressing in a forward-looking way. He outlined the important reforms of the administrative organisation of the People’s Bank of China. He told the delegates that the discussions would be of great help to China’s policy-makers in framing policy. The pervasive linkages between macroeconomic policies and the banking system provided the focus for the first session. Nicholas Lardy traced the roots of the bad debts that weigh heavily on China’s banks and said that recapitalisation raised several issues: how the underlying causes that had generated bad loans are being addressed; whether enough public funds are being devoted to deal with the true scale of the problem and how could this be financed; whether enough competition is being injected into the banking system; and, finally, what can be done to reduce the taxation of banks. Rudi Dornbusch and Francesco Giavazzi echoed Lardy’s questions about the true size of bad loans in China and argued that restructuring should be accompanied by the development of 10 1 a deeper national capital market for both debt and equity. Enunciating he raised the need to develop systems for national and sectoral risk a number of principles for successful bank restructuring, they stressed management. three needs: the need to separate money and credit creation from the The third session examined the methodology of supervision of the finance of public sector deficits; the need for not-too-gradual reform; financial sector. Cai E-sheng highlighted four major areas for attention: and the need for a strengthened supervisory system to precede any the unsound governing mechanisms of many financial institutions; the significant opening up of the external capital account. Lawrence Lau need to educate investors about financial risks; the quality of supervisory explored various ways of strengthening banks’ balance sheets and staff; and the mechanisms for problem institutions to exit. Carol Sergeant suggested that China had adequate fiscal resources for this task: even outlined the main causes of bank difficulties (e.g. management strategies including the entire stock of banks’ non-performing loans, the public that were misconceived, business that was not understood and organisa- debt/GDP ratio would still be well below that in many other countries. tional structures that did not work) and said that a supervisory system He argued that banks should be wary of maturity mismatches and that had to make sure that risks were properly managed. She suggested that they should balance long-term loans with long-term sources of finance. the removal of “policy lending” from China’s state banks was crucial if YK Mo argued that additional resources needed to be devoted to these banks were to operate on a commercial basis. Michael Pomerleano removing bad and doubtful loans from banks’ balance sheets. argued that off-site supervision had an important role to play and that Lu Baifu stressed the need for self-development in a stable social and there were many ways open to supervisors of verifying information political environment. He said that macroeconomic powers belonged to about credits. Danièle Nouy explained some of the methodological issues the central government able to take decisions concerning the big picture raised in the Basel Committee’s “Core Principles of Effective Banking but that microeconomic decisions could be decentralised. Wu Jinglian Supervision”. She said that a world-wide survey had shown that the discussed policy options in the light of the macroeconomic conjuncture. shortage of skilled human resources was the most acute problem to be But he put the emphasis on supply-side, rather than demand-stimulatory, addressed and that supervisory agencies needed to be autonomous. measures: to encourage the development of small and medium private Nicholas Ketcha summarised the FDIC’s experiences with designing a business; to strengthen the financial system; and to reform the state- deposit insurance scheme. Any insurance system, he warned, had to be owned enterprises. designed to minimise moral hazard risks. Brian Peters focused on two The second session examined certain microeconomic issues, including risks particularly important for small and medium-sized institutions: the appropriate framework for financial supervision. Chen Yuan explained credit risk and operational risk. He outlined the principles that can serve what the State Development Bank was doing to mitigate policy-oriented to evaluate a bank’s internal control system. financial risks. He said that the SDB’s project appraisal had been The fourth session focused on the management of banking crises. improved and more projects were now being rejected. Roberto Zahler Kazuo Ueda explained the difficulties that had beset policy-makers in drew on his