(PBOC), the non-profit institution is expected to provide a clearing service at various levels of the CCB nationwide. Local CCBs are encouraged to join the center and become members in their own right.
The move is one of the measures taken by CCBs to catch up with other domestic commercial banks and incoming foreign competitors.
Insiders here say the strategy will help the country's 112 city commercial banks, which were transformed from small urban community banks in the 1990s, to solve the problem of small-scale and non-shared resources.
Meanwhile, sources with the PBOC said more CCBs would be approved to deal with bills processing after Shanghai and Fuzhou.
(Xinhua News Agency August 19, 2002)
