International Capital- and Liquidity Regulation. A challenge for Chinese banks?

Abstract

The Chinese Banking Regulatory Commission started the implementation of global capital- and liquidity standards for commercial banks in China by issuing the first regulatory elements of the Basel III accords in June 2012. This paper analyses a sample of 163 commercial banks operating in China between 2007 and 2014 and studies their Tier 1 Capital Ratio and Net Stable Funding Ratio to see whether commercial banks in China can comply with the requirements of the regulations. It also compares these capital and liquidity measures with those of large, international banks and provides an overview of the Chinese banking sector and its history. The results show that most of the commercial banks in China fulfil the minimum requirements for the Tier 1 capital ratio and the Net Stable Funding Ratio in 2014 and would have fulfilled these over the past eight years. Compared to the benchmark, commercial banks in China have lower capital ratios than most of the international banks but are within the average when comparing the Net Stable Funding Ratios. The analysis also shows that smaller- and medium-sized banks in China have high capital buffers but lower Net Stable Funding Ratios than large commercial banks.