China is planning to issue tougher requirements for foreign banks and Chinese-foreign joint venture banks hoping to register in the country, a move showing that the country is eager to focus on attracting high quality foreign banks, analysts said Wednesday.

The new draft rules, published by the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) on September 30, call for an increase in the minimum registration capital for foreign banks and Chinese-foreign joint venture banks from 300 million yuan ($49 million) to 1 billion yuan.

Shareholders in foreign and Chinese-foreign banks will also have to be supervised by the financial regulators in the country or region they come from.

The CBRC will be seeking feedback by October 30 from foreign banks and others in the industry on the plan, which is a revision of its 2006 regulations.

A veteran banking industry analyst, who spoke to the Global Times Wednesday on condition of anonymity, said that the CBRC aims to bring more high-quality and larger foreign financial institutions into China, but some smaller foreign banks will not be allowed access.

The draft rules also suggest dividing foreign banks into two categories for derivatives trading. The "base group" will be allowed to conduct fully hedged derivative trading, while the "ordinary group" will be permitted to conduct unhedged trading subject to risk controls.

The CBRC said it revised the old rules to reduce administrative processes and further optimize its management of administrative affairs in approving the registration of foreign banks in China.

Zhang Taowei, an associate professor at the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University, told the Global Times Wednesday that the CBRC wants to stop China's small private businesses from bypassing the lengthy process of launching private banks in the mainland.

"Small businesses can register a company in Hong Kong and enter the mainland through the Shanghai free trade zone, where the difficulties of setting up private banks might be reduced in the future. The CBRC wants to prevent that from happening," Zhang said.

Jin Lin, a senior banking analyst with China Securities in Shanghai, told the Global Times Wednesday that the plan will only influence a very small number of banks.

"When a bank's registered capital is 1 billion yuan, it  can handle a bank capital scale of some 10 billion yuan," Jin said. "If a foreign bank wants to enter China, it definitely wants to conduct business involving much larger amounts."

Most of the world's biggest international banks already have a business license in China, the Financial Times reported Wednesday, but they control less than 2 percent of the country's banking assets.

The new plan will give banks from Macao and Hong Kong some preferential treatment, including allowing them to apply to conduct yuan-denominated services after operating in the Chinese mainland for more than a year.