5. Sonderthema China: The System of Banks in China

Commercial banks play an important role in financial system of China. This article introduces the culture, structure and strategy of China’s commercial banks. The culture includes two stages of the era of planned economy and the era of market economy. The era of market economy began at the end of the 1970s. In the last forty years, China has established a complete commercial banking system. China’s commercial bank system includes stateowned commercial banks, joint-stock commercial banks, urban commercial banks, rural financial institutions and other types. In this section, this article quotes the latest data from the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) on banking. The last section is strategy. Specifically, the geographical area and market positioning of all kinds of commercial banks are clear. They have a diversified service channel and a rich variety of products. The development of Internet banking is in the ascendant. Because of the expansion of off balance sheet business, they are facing a high risk in recent years. The government is working to reduce the leverage of commercial banks to control the overall risk level.