Banking News
- Govt. to boost support to rural finance
Date: 22-Jun-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
THE government Thursday reaffirmed its commitment to making policy more favorable to the development of financial services in the countryside, saying that it would step up efforts to divert excess cash to the country's rural regions.
The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) said the government would continue to subsidize interest income and offer tax breaks to banks for the loans they extend in rural areas.
The government would also offer greater incentives for guarantee agencies to offer services in the countryside and encourage more financial institutions to branch out into rural regions, said Tang Shuangning, vice chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, China's banking regulator.
His comments, made to leaders of the country's rural credit cooperatives, were posted on the agency's Web site.
The government is counting on rural credit cooperatives, along with a group of newly-launched rural banks, to help develop the new socialist countryside that President Hu Jintao has proclaimed as one of his main political goals.
Tang said that although significant obstacles remain, the current economic situation was generally supportive of an expansion of rural finance.
For example, while excessive liquidity was a challenge to the financial system as a whole, rural areas provided an outlet for that extra cash.
Tang also said authorities should issue special treasury bonds earmarked for agricultural uses or more bonds by policy banks to fund the improvement of rural infrastructure as well as agricultural industries.
In another development, the South China Morning Post reported Thursday that Tang Shuangning has been appointed to head state-owned financial group China Everbright Group and its banking unit.
The Hong Kong-based English newspaper quoted sources familiar with the situation as saying that Tang had replaced Wang Mingquan as chairman of China Everbright Group and its banking arm, China Everbright Bank.
The sources said Wang had stepped down after reaching the retirement age of 60 and the management reshuffle came as the group underwent restructuring, with its banking unit awaiting a 20 billion yuan (US$2.63 billion) bailout from the Central Government's asset management firm Central Huijin Investment.
Tang, 53, joined the People's Bank of China, China's central bank, in 1982 before moving to the China Banking Regulatory Commission when it was founded in 2003, the newspaper said.
The report added that the internal announcement did not mention if Tang would also head the Hong Kong-listed China Everbright Ltd. and China Everbright International Ltd.
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