|
| |
| Issue 08, 2004 (02 August) |
China Scraps One-Year One-Branch System for Foreign Banks
The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) announced its amended Implementing Rules for Regulations on the Management of Foreign Financial Institutions on 26 July. The new rules have scrapped the one-year waiting period between the opening of new branch offices of foreign banks and the one-year waiting period after an earlier application for the opening of new branches was rejected. The new measures will take effect on 1 September.
The new rules have also lowered the capital requirement for branches handling renminbi business of Chinese companies and Chinese individuals from Rmb400 million and Rmb600 million respectively to Rmb300 million and Rmb500 million respectively.
In order to improve the efficiency of project approval and monitoring, the new rules have also made the following adjustments to the market access approval procedures for foreign financial institutions:
-
Under the original implementing rules, applications for the opening of branch offices of foreign corporate bodies and foreign banks had to be submitted to the local CBRC agency and passed on to CBRC level by level. The new rules have simplified these cumbersome procedures. Applicants may now directly submit their applications to CBRC and send a copy of their application to the local CBRC agency.
-
Regarding applications submitted by existing foreign financial institutions to CBRC for approval, including applications by foreign financial institutions to engage in or expand renminbi business or readjust their scope of business, applications by wholly-owned or joint venture banks to open branch offices, applications by foreign corporate bodies to adjust or transfer their registered capital, applications by branch offices of foreign banks to increase or reduce their operating fund, applications by foreign corporate bodies to change shareholders holding over 10% of their total capital or shares, applications by foreign corporate bodies to change their articles of association, and applications by foreign financial institutions to make their exit, the old implementing rules stipulated that the application and supporting documents must be submitted by the local CBRC agency to CBRC level by level. The new rules have replaced this system with a more direct approach, with the local CBRC agency directly submitting the application to CBRC after a preliminary examination of the documents.
-
On the verification of the qualifications of senior managers, CBRC will authorise the local banking regulatory bureaus to verify the qualifications of heads of branch offices of foreign banks.
|
