Foreign Strategic Investment and China’s Financial Security
发布: 2008-9-15 18:28 | 作者: CE | 来源: China Economist
ZHU Yingying ( 朱盈盈)1, ZENG Yong ( 曾勇)1, LI Ping ( 李平)1 and HE Jia ( 何佳)2
1 School of Management and Economics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
2 Department of Finance, the University of Hong Kong
Editorial Note:Introducing foreign strategic investors into Chinese banks is a necessary step in the reform and opening up of China’s banking industry, and is encouraged and supported by regulatory authorities. The introduction of foreign strategic investors into three state-owned commercial banks, followed by their successful overseas listings, has drawn great attention from academia and media both at home and abroad. There have always been numerous arguments in academia and industry about whether foreigners should be allowed to invest in China’s banking sector reform; frequently heard positions argue that foreign investment in this sector would “balance internal and external opening up,” “sell short stateowned commercial banks” and “threaten China’s financial security,” etc. The authors summarize the characteristics of foreign strategic investment in Chinese banks and give a critique of the status quo.
Since 2005, the reform and opening of China’s banking sector has accelerated, and more and more Chinese banks have introduced foreign strategic investors. At the end of 2006, there were 29 foreign strategic investors investing in 21 Chinese banks, with a total investment value of US$19 billion.i And the introduction of foreign strategic investors into three state-owned commercial banks—China Construction Bank (CCB), Bank of China (BOC) and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)—followed by their overseas listings ii, has drawn great attention from academia and media both at home and abroad.
There have always been divisive arguments between academia and the industry regarding the introduction of foreign strategic investors into Chinese banks; a few frequently heard positions argue that foreign investment in this sector would “balance internal and external opening up,” “sell short state-owned commercial banks” and “threaten China’s financial security” etc.
