Banks Listing Benefits Risk Control

Zhou Xiaochuan, chairman of China Securities Regulatory Commission, said recently that the financial enterprises are welcomed to issue stocks for listing. China Merchants Bank has taken the lead in introducing, among others, such methods as "Online Bank" and "Handset Bank", which has aroused great attention from the whole trade.

In early 2000, the policy-makers of China Merchants Bank passed the decision on listing, and is . now busily preparing for the matter. If everything goes well, A-share is expected to be listed next year.

Ma Weihua, president of China Merchants Bank, said that China's securities management authorities recently made a clear-cut stand on stock listing by financial institutions including commercial banks, securities companies and insurance companies, which is a good news for China Merchants Bank.

First, after years of development, China Merchants Bank has experienced three times of share expansion, its total assets have presently exceeded 180 billion yuan. In light of the current speed of development, the sufficiency of the bank's assets will be less than 8 percent in one or two years. The method to remedy this situation is stock listing.

Second, stock listing will help improve the bank's internal management mechanism and place the bank under public supervision and management, thereby facilitating the steady development of the bank.

Third, the listed bank is a public bank, its social influence itself becomes intangible assets for development.

As regards the selection of location for listing, Ma said that the matter depends on the concrete situation. Sources say that China Merchants Bank is making plans for listing at home and abroad.

Ma Weihua believes that stock listing is helpful to controlling risks of the banks. The process of listing is not only a fund-raising process, but also a process of mechanism transformation and risk-control, which are the real purposes of listing. .

Besides, people used to doubt the authenticity of the information about assets publicized by China Merchants Bank. The People's Bank of China is conducting an inspection on the authenticity of assets. Ma believes that the order of assets of the entire banking system will gradually fit in with the reality through listing.



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