China has announced a series of new regulations for unlisted banks as it aims to mitigate risks in the banking industry.
The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) has published new guidelines which require unlisted commercial banks to register their stakeholders with qualified custodians by the end of June next year.
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Qualified custodians refer to the legal securities registration and settlement institutions. Further, they should not be indicted with violating regulations in the last two years.
Additionally, all the commercial banks are mandated to put on record details of their shareholders by the end of 2021, Reuters reported.
CBIRC, according to the news agency, in a statement said: “In recent years, some banks have seen chaotic issues on ownership due to weak corporate governance.
“Therefore, from the perspective of prudential supervision, CBIRC now requires unlisted commercial banks to register with legally established custodians as well.”
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By GlobalDataIn recent years, China has stepped up its regulatory efforts to bring transparency in the banking system.
In May this year, the regulators took over Baoshang Bank due to growing credit risks.
The Inner Mongolia-based bank had nearly $22.68bn of outstanding loans by the end of 2016, a jump of nearly 65% compared to 2014 figures.
Recently, China also withdrew certain regulatory requirements in order to further open up the sector. The steps included abolishing the asset requirement of $20bn for foreign banks which intend to open branches in China.
