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Banking assets soared since 1978

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-08-26 20:10

The total assets of China's banking industry reached 73.7 trillion yuan at the end of June, up 27.7 percent year-on-year and 388 times that of 1978, the year China's began its reforms, the Xinhua new agency reported Tuesday, citing figures from the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC).

Over that period, China's banking assets averaged 21.2 percent annual growth. As a result, China's banking industry ranks near the top globally in terms of total profits, profit growth, and return on investment capital, the CBRC said.

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By the end of 2008, three of China's state-owned banks, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Bank of China, ranked among the world's top 15 banks in terms of tier one capital, the core measure of a bank's financial strength.

Meanwhile, by the end of 2008, a total of 75 foreign banks have set up 116 branches across China, and 31 of Chinese banks has drawn US$32.78 billion investment from 45 overseas institutional investors.

China's bank loans supply more than 80 percent of the country's demand for currency, the report said.

A total of 28 foreign banks have now entered China's banking market since 1978 as well.

Newly increased yuan-denominated loans totaled 7.7 trillion yuan in the first seven months of this year, more than doubling the amount from the same period last year, according to data from the central bank.