China to inaugurate postal savings bank by end of year
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-06-27 10:22
China Postal Savings Bank is expected to open for business by the end of this
year, a senior banking official revealed Monday.
A China Banking
Regulatory Commission official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Xinhua
preparatory work for the new bank should be completed within six months.
The bank will open branches in post offices around the country, which
already offer some financial services.
A branch of the China Postal Savings in Shanghai. China Postal
Savings Bank is expected to open for business by the end of this year, a
senior banking official revealed Monday.
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China's State Council, or the
Cabinet, already gave the nod to the bank a month ago.
The CBRC official
said that China Postal Savings Bank will be managed according to stringent
corporate governance featuring a board of directors, a board of supervisors and
senior management.
CBRC vice-chairman Cai Esheng revealed earlier the
new bank will largely focus on retail and intermediary business, "forming sound,
complementary relations with other commercial banks" to contribute to the
development of the "new socialist countryside," a concept the Chinese government
has raised amid efforts to boost rural development.
The latest
statistics show the nationwide postal savings stations had a deposit balance of
1.48 trillion yuan (185 billion U.S. dollars) by the end of March, making the
new bank the country's fifth largest, just after the "Big Four" state banks.
Postal savings services were kicked off in 1986 with the establishment of
the China Post Savings and Remittance Bureau.
Postal savings stations
take deposits from the public, which, however, are held by the central bank. The
difference between the stations' interest income from the central bank and the
interest paid to clients, has been the major source of profit even as
traditional postal services have declined.
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