The Reform of State-owned Commercial Banks in China: A Political Economy Perspective

This paper analyzes the logic of the reform of state-owned commercial banks during 1997-2006 from a political economy perspective, mainly by discussing three fields of the reform: shareholding system reform, marketization, and financial restructuring. It also points out the existing problems in each field. The conclusion is that although the reform is heading in the right direction and has already made great progress, it has largely been conducted at the technical level and the Government has avoided dealing with the core issue of the reform. More importantly, the consequences of the Government’s policy—pursuing short-term objectives, like improving the short-term financial status of banks—puts the entire system in danger by accumulating long-term risks. This paper also provides some policy proposals and points out potential directions for further studies.