The dollar-denominated B market, which had been reserved for foreigners, was opened to domestic investors to improve liquidity and keep foreign currency in China. Beijing also ended quotas blocking private company listings and plans to delist companies that show three years of losses. Bank reform goes hand in hand with market regulation. Officials are debating licensing a bevy of small private banks to create lenders with clean balance sheets and put competitive pressure on the state giants. When Wang Xuebing took charge of China Construction Bank 12 months ago, its 38 provincial operations ran like 38 different banks.
Profits are the new focus.
I want to know about profit. Wang hopes to get the bank up to international capital standards by 2003. China's bankers have grand ambitions. It has gone from no credit cards 10 years ago to 76 million today. Before that, he has to deal with nonperforming loans.