The International Investment Forum 2004 was held Wednesday in Xiamen, Fujian Province, as part of the 8th China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT).

Some 450 guests were expected to attend the event, considered one of the most authoritative international investment strategy forums in the Asia-Pacific region. Featured speakers included Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai, Deputy Prime Minister of Jordan Mohammad Al-Halaiqah, Carrefour Chairman and CEO Daniel Bernard and Hitachi Chairman Tsutomu Kanai.

China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) Chairman Liu Mingkang, also one of the featured speakers at the forum, said that the CBRC believes that foreign banks will help improve the quality and efficiency of the banking sector, enhancing the management of Chinese institutions and sharpening the overall competitiveness of the sector.

By the end of August, foreign banks had set up 200 operational entities in China and had launched more than 100 banking products. Thirteen foreign banks had won approval to provide online banking services.

Liu noted that foreign financial institutions had already introduced new technology and information to China's banking sector, actions that are conducive to its reform and reorganization.

In short, he said, “Foreign financial institutions, especially foreign-funded banks, have become an important component of China's banking system.”

Liu said China will continue with the drive to create a level playing field for domestic and foreign-funded financial institutions.

In accordance with China's World Trade Organization commitments, Beijing, Kunming and Xiamen will open renminbi business to foreign-funded banks in December this year, bringing the total to 16 cities. Four more cities will be opened at the end of next year, before all banking restrictions are lifted at the end of 2006.

Assets of foreign-invested banks in China totaled US$64.3 billion at the end of July this year, accounting for 1.8 percent of the market. They have secured a 17.8 percent share of the local foreign currency lending market.

Foreign-funded banks' renminbi denominated assets totaled 85.7 billion yuan (US$10.3 billion) at the end of July, up 48 percent on a year-on-year basis. Their combined profits came in at 300 million yuan (US$36.2 million) in the first seven months.

CIFIT, held annually from September 8 through 11, is sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce and organized by the Fujian provincial and Xiamen municipal governments. It is China's only national-level international investment promotion event focusing on FDI.

(China Daily, China.org.cn September 9, 2004)