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No Hurry with Bank Listings

China will not risk the quality of the nation's banking reform by hastening the listing of its major State-owned banks, China Daily cited a top banking regulator as saying in November 12 report.

China Banking Regulatory Commission Vice-Chairman Tang Shuangning stressed that listing is not the aim of the banking reform but merely a means to restructure the banks' current operational system and equity structure.

"There is no timetable for the listing (of the two banks). It is meaningless to race for listing," Tang told the 2004 International Finance Forum held in Xianghe County of Hebei Province.

"Simply pursuing the speed will affect the quality of the listing."

Tang made the remarks as he introduced the progress of the restructuring of the Bank of China (BOC) and China Construction Bank (CCB), two pilots among the four major State banks to conduct the shareholding restructuring and go public.

BOC has completed the initial round of selecting strategic investors, while CCB has already found three domestic institutional investors, he said.

Both banks have basically completed their financial restructuring and drafted a strategic development plan for the following years.

They have drawn up relevant rules to practise standard corporate governance, including rules governing the operation of their boards, general shareholders' meetings and the top management groups.

They have also chosen relevant intermediaries to head towards the listing, but there is still much hard work ahead.

The banks are currently implementing new accounting standards, improving their budget system and upgrading their internal controls, with the preparation of special risk controls and monitoring committees.

BOC Assistant President Zhu Min said that "no timetable for listing" does not mean the bank would slow down the reform.

He told reporters on the sidelines of the forum that the bank is gradually promoting the restructuring. And the final choice of strategic investors has yet to be made.

Zhu also denied recent reports that the bank had given up the idea of listing in Hong Kong.

"We have not decided on the location of the listing yet," he said.

"It is nonsense to say that we will not get listed in Hong Kong." (Xinhuanet)