MAC forms bank policy

Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) officials said yesterday that the government has reached the final stage of policy study on allowing banks to set up representative offices in China, dismissing reports that it would announce the policy in one or two weeks time as indefinite.

As study on whether to lift the restrictions on financial institutions continues, government officials, local bank representatives and academics agreed that interested local banks would need thorough evaluation on their own competitiveness before they jump into the Chinese market.

"The government policy on allowing local banks to set up representative offices in China, is moving in a more open direction," John Deng (鄧振中), vice chairman of the MAC said yesterday. The looming entry into the WTO by Taiwan and China would require both countries to open their financial markets among others to foreign competition. MAC officials said that the representative offices of banks that may be allowed to be set up in China will mainly serve as liaison offices, or bases for data and information referral services.

The lifting of restrictions on allowing banks to set up representative offices in China will involve policy changes at home and negotiations with China on several technical issues. None the less, they would rely on how China would handle these issues due to political concerns.

"The current regulations only allow local banks to set up representative offices via their overseas subsidaries," said Steve Chen (陳沖), vice central bank governor. "Meanwhile, banks in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau are viewed as foreign investment banks by the Chinese authorities," Chen pointed out. "So they will have to meet the requirements of holding total assets of at least US$20 billion, and prove that they have no deficit records reported in the last three years."

Despite around 14 local banks meeting the above criteria, no subsidaries of these banks could meet all these criteria for setting up representative offices in China, Chen said. Other policy barriers that need to be taken into consideration include whether China would allow Taiwanese banks -- approved by the Taiwanese government -- to set up offices.

Additionally, supervisory officials should be created by both Taipei and Beijing, which would also be based on negotiations with China. Representatives of several leading local banks have said that business opportunities in China for them will be carefully evaluated.

Douglas Hsu (徐序東), chaiman of Far East International Bank (遠東國際商業銀行) recently said that policies on the timing and degree of the liberalization is still unclear and that the attitude of Beijing toward this issue should also be studied. As a result, banks should be cautious regarding this issue, he said.

Jeffrey Koo, (辜濂松), chairman of Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託商業銀行), however, has taken a more aggressive step toward entering China by issuing a concrete policy of "prepare for three years and land in China in five years."

E. Sun Bank's (玉山銀行) spokes-man, Duh Wu-lin (杜武林), said China will not be the bank's priority for moving toward liberalization and internationalization.

"Our priority will be to upgrade our representative office in Hong Kong into a full branch office," Duh said.

One banking industry source, who asked not to be identified, said that quick entry into the China banking market during the two-to-five-year grace period after Beijing enters the WTO will be beneficial to local banks since, in the long term, they will have to compete with their foreign rivals.