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China's major banking institutions slashed the ratio of
non-performing loans (NPLs) by 5.32 percentage points to 17.8
percent last year, according to a press conference Thursday.
In 2003, total NPL volume of major Chinese financial
institutions was cut off by 190.6 billion yuan (approximately
US$23.1billion) to 2.44 trillion yuan (US$295 billion) at the
year's end, according to background materials provided by the China
Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) at the press conference on the
sideline of the ongoing sessions of the 10th National People's
Congress (NPC) and the 10th National Committee of the Chinese
People's Political Consultative Conference.
The figures demonstrate China's enhanced ability to weather
financial risks and supervise its banking organs, the CBRC
said.
The CBRC punished 1,242 banking institutions at different levels
and penalized 3,251 bank staffs who violated financial regulations
in the past year. The financial "watchdog" also strengthened its
off-site surveillance function, and monitored economic and
financial development so as to promptly identify and signal
potential risks, according to the materials.
(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2004)
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