The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) posted its 2006 annual report on its website recently. It says the total assets of the Chinese banking sector amount to 43.95 trillion yuan (US$5.78 trillion), with a pre-tax profit of 337.92 billion yuan, achieving 10-fold growth in four years.

As the first annual report from a financial regulatory institution, it elaborated on the achievements of the CBRC and the challenges it has faced since its establishment in 2003. The report underscores the effort of the CBRC to make their jobs more open and help the public understand its role.

According to the report, major commercial banks of China generated a pre-tax profit of 240.9 billion yuan in 2006, an increase of 55.9 billion yuan or 30.2 percent. The average rate of net return on total assets (ROA) and net return on equity (ROE) of four listed State-owned commercial banks was 0.9 percent and 14.9 percent respectively. The income portfolio of banks has become more diversified, with income from the intermediary service accounting for 17.5 percent of total income.

The pre-tax book profit of State-owned commercial banks and rural credit cooperatives grew to 197.49 billion yuan and 18.62 billion yuan respectively from a deficit in 2003, illustrating the success of the reforms on these financial institutions.

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By the end of 2006, the gap between banking institutions' deposits and loans continued to widen, reaching 10.95 trillion yuan, increasing by 1.61 trillion year-on-year. The average loan-deposit ratio of banking institutions was 68.5 percent, declining 0.4 percentage points, and 6.5 percentage points lower than the regulatory ceiling of 75 percent.

In particular, the loan-deposit ratio of State-owned commercial banks fell to 60.9 percent, 0.6 percentage points lower than in 2005. Their average liquidity ratio was 54.9 percent, 11.6 percent higher year-on-year. The loan-deposit ratio of the joint-stock commercial banks climbed to 74.2 percent, 0.9 percentage points higher than in 2005. Their liquidity ratio was 52.1 percent, 2.1 percentage points higher. These figures show the banking sector has abundant funds to meet liquidity needs.

By the end last year, Non-performing Loans (NPL) of all commercial banks measured by the five-category loan classification standard totaled 1.25 trillion yuan, 71.3 billion yuan less than the last year. The NPL ratio was 7.1 percent, down by 1.5 percentage points.

Liu Mingkang, chairman of the CBRC noted in the statement in the annual report that China's banking sector still has a long way to go to meet the high standards of the international banking community. Currently, low efficiency, large NPLs, as well as lack of risk managing skills are all obstacles hampering the competitiveness of Chinese banks.

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