China's top banking regulators are likely to shore up control over
the heated commercial lending market by tightening their grip on
the booming auto-financing market.
A
new regulation governing personal auto financing is to be worked
out very soon by China's central bank, the People's Bank of China
(PBOC), to streamline the fast-growing, yet ill-fated,
auto-financing market.
The move is being billed as another landmark decision by regulators
to root out problem lending and build up a healthy financial
system.
Regulators last month released a regulation aimed at restricting
lending in the overheated housing-financing sector.
Designed to replace rules enacted five years ago, the new
regulations, with the much-planned rule to manage auto-financing
firms, will form the legal framework to shore up China's
auto-financing market.
But the rules to manage auto-financing firms will be released by
the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) - a newly
established banking watchdog following a split from PBOC earlier
this year.
The new rules could be released within three months, suggest source
with CBRC's information office.
"And we will tie up with CBRC for detailed consulting and reviewing
of these two provisions before an official release," echoed sources
with PBOC's information office.
But the source declined to unveil further details of the planned
provision.
The new regulation will focus more on individual auto consumption,
the pillar of car sales in China's fast-growing market, and on the
amount a customer can borrow, which will be determined by his/her
credit history.
Although auto sales have soared in recent years, China's
auto-financing business has failed to mature.
Commercial banks have tried to boost the sector, without a sound
system to ward off risks.
"Auto loans are riskier than mortgages, as China still does not
have a qualified personal credit management system," said Yi
Xianrong, a financial expert with the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences.
Chinese had borrowed 94.5 billion yuan (US$11.41 billion) by the
end of last year to buy vehicles.
Of
that amount, loans with State-owned banks hit 80 billion yuan
(US$9.66 billion), while shareholding and smaller banks issued 12
billion yuan (US$1.44 billion). Finance companies issued the
remaining loans.
China's situation is different from practices in mature western
markets, where a larger number of auto sales are financed by
specialized auto-financing firms.
Currently, less than 20 per cent of car sales in China are
financed, much less than the average 70 per cent in Western
countries.
That will change as more Chinese become aware of personal lending,
and as vehicle sales in China continue to soar.
Car sales in China last year reached 1.2 million units. In all,
3.25 million vehicles - including trucks and buses - were sold
across China, up 36.65 per cent year-on-year. Car sales could jump
to 1.8 million units this year, fuelled by price cuts and the
introduction of more foreign models.
Currently, property insurance firms in China bear the burden for
auto loan risks. Many insurers, however, have abandoned the
business due to high risks.
Research by China Minsheng Bank indicates about 30 per cent of auto
loans become problem loans, a ratio that is even higher than that
of housing loans, which could pose threat to the country's fragile
financial system.
However, with the debut last October of the draft management
principles for auto financing, China's auto sellers will promote
auto lending, and some, if not properly supervised, might resort to
ill-fated competition by lowering the minimum down payment to boost
their sales.
Yi
has been calling for the quick implementation of the new
regulations to replace the Management Rules for Auto Consumption
enacted in 1998. The current regulations only govern financing of
Chinese-made vehicles issued by the nation's four largest
State-owned banks.
"Apart from the release of the new regulations, large foreign auto
financing firms, such as Ford and General Motors, should be also
introduced to the market, which could, in turn, streamline the
market," Yi said.
(Business Weekly July 14, 2003)