Five years after China enters the World Trade Organization (WTO), overseas-funded banks in China will receive equal treatment as Chinese domestic banks, according to Dai Xianglong, governor of the People's Bank of China.
Dai made the announcement Wednesday at the on-going Sixth World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention, saying that China will gradually open its financial sector and advance step by step.
This will help promote the stable development of China's economy and protect the benefits of overseas investors, Dai said.
In the year of China's entry into the WTO, overseas-funded banks in China will be permitted to handle business services of foreign currencies for Chinese enterprises and individuals. In two years, they will be allowed to deal with RMB business for Chinese enterprises. In five years, the banks will be able to carry out RMB business for Chinese individuals.
In five years, there will be no location limits on overseas banks while they are handling RMB business, Dai said.
By the end of June this year, overseas banking institutes in China had total assets of 41.1 billion US dollars. Over the past three years, 31 overseas bank branches in China, which were approved to handle RMB business, reported RMB loans of 34 billion yuan and RMB savings of 7.8 billion yuan.
(People's Daily 09/20/2001)
