The?People's Bank of China (PBC), or the central
bank, opened its second headquarters in Shanghai, the country's
financial hub, on Wednesday.
Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the central bank, said the Shanghai
headquarters was designed to enhance the central bank's ability to
regulate the country's financial market and provide better
service.
"The central bank's existing structure cannot meet the needs" of
the country's economic development, Zhou said.
The second headquarters are an institution at the
vice-ministerial level. Vice Governor Xiang Junbo of PBC has been
put in charge.
With the establishment of the Shanghai headquarters, some
departments of the central bank whose businesses are closely
related to the market will be moved from Beijing.
The Shanghai headquarters will perform the central bank's
executive functions, while the policy making function will remain
with the Beijing headquarters, according to local officials.
The Shanghai headquarters have five key responsibilities,
including regulating the financial market, conducting financial
supervision, making financial and trust analyses, and coordinating
regional financial cooperation.
The headquarters will be composed of 16 to18 departments or
centers with staff numbers to be enlarged to 700 within three
years.
The headquarters will be located in the financial area of
Lujiazui in Shanghai's Pudong New District.
The Shanghai Branch of the central bank will remain, and the
headquarters operate separately.
Shanghai has long been deemed the financial center of China.
Many leading financial institutions, such as China's foreign
exchange market, the interbank lending market, the gold market, the
diamond market as well as the Shanghai Stock Exchange, are located
in the municipality.
At the end of last year, Shanghai had 300 financial
institutions. Foreign investors had more than 10 percent of the
market share.
To further improve the central bank's management, Zhou said it
would possibly transfer some of its nationwide businesses, such as
payment and liquidation as well as a consulting system for national
credit information to Shanghai and hence set up the second
headquarters there.
Analysts say that the Shanghai headquarters will draw the
central bank closer to the financial market.
(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2005)