China's hard-earned World Trade Organization membership may not prove as disastrous for its banks as was widely thought previously, banking analysts in Shanghai say.

A recent indication of Chinese banks' growing confidence in thepost-WTO age is the preliminary financing of the 22 billion yuan (2.66 billion U.S. dollars) Shanghai ethylene project.

Competition for the provision of the financial package for the project, a joint venture between Sinopec, Shanghai Petrochemical Corp. and world oil giant BP, was fierce, as Chinese banks faced their first major post-WTO encounter with foreign competitors.

When the financial deal was finally revealed at the end of 2001,Chinese banks turned out to be the big winners, snatching the biggest slice of the cake for Renminbi and U.S. dollar loans, working fund loans, account management and other services.

The Bank of China was designated the agent for dollar loans andthe opening bank for both capital and settlement accounts.

The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd. (HSBC) and the Industrial Bank of Japan were the only overseas banks in the financing consortium and held a marginal share of the deal.

The Financial Times is right to point out that the landslide victory of Chinese banks in the deal means foreign banks can expect to run into strong competition from national banks when they enter China.

Since the early 1980s when foreign banks were first permitted to operate in China, HSBC, Citibank and other big names in the international banking industry have opened branches in Shanghai and other Chinese cities, driven by the prospect of huge potentialin the Chinese market.

Since joining the WTO, China has been obliged to relax restrictions on where foreign banks can operate and what services they can offer.

The long history of foreign banks, their financial strength, their high salaries and other attractions they offer to well-qualified professionals, once made them appear fearsome giants to Chinese banks.

Some were sure that Chinese banks, crippled by the planned economy, would crumple before foreign competition.

But the winds are changing. After dancing with the wolves for nearly two decades, Chinese banks are gaining in confidence.

"Foreign banks have many things to teach us, such as their financial strength, their management expertise and their services.But we are not going to give up easily," said Jiang Jianqing, president of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country's largest commercial bank.

While China adapts to WTO membership, more foreign investment will be pouring in, and more Chinese businesses will be conductingtheir procurements, production and sales on a global scale. All this will mean expanded profits for Chinese banks, Jiang said.

Liu Mingkang, president of the Bank of China, said Chinese banks and foreign banks both have their own invaluable competitiveedges.

For Chinese banks, among their advantages are their huge networks of branches, familiarity with domestic policies and markets, and good local customer basis, Liu said.

The number and scale of Chinese banks have expanded over the years China has striven for WTO membership.

The country now has 104 commercial banks, with total assets worth of 12.6 trillion yuan (1.52 trillion U.S. dollars). The scope of their services has expanded from deposits, loans and settlement to a huge variety of fields.

"As far as networks and account services are concerned, Chinesebanks are not at all inferior to foreign banks. That's what our customers say," said Sun Liang, a business manager at the Bank of China's Shanghai branch.

"Many customers have opened accounts with Chinese banks. It's natural for them to seek loans and other intermediate services at Chinese banks," he said.

In fact, while the restrictions on foreign banks are being removed, the same is true for Chinese banks.

For example, foreign-currency loans for foreign-invested projects used to be a specialty of foreign Banks, but such services have been used by Chinese Banks in the Shanghai ethylene project.

"Domestic banks will have five years to adjust to post-WTO competition, but the complete opening of the banking sector will be irreversible," said Liu Jinbao, president of Bank of China (HK)Ltd.

Liu noted that how to deal with non-performing assets and improve efficiency will be the key areas in which domestic banks must make major progress over the next five years.