China's National Financial Regulatory Administration Photo: VCG

Adjustments made by certain foreign banks are intended for a specific period and aren't part of a trend, an official with China's new financial regulatory body said on Friday, in response to a change in business operation by some foreign banks.

An official with China's National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA) told a press conference that regulators have taken note of the adjustments made by certain foreign-funded banks recently, the Shanghai Securities News reported.

"Due to a background of the epidemic and increased uncertainty in global economic development in the past three years, the parent banks of some foreign-funded banks have made certain adjustments based on their own operating conditions and strategies," the official said.

Such adjustments are intended for a specific time period and do not have long-term or trend characteristics, the official noted.

"At the same time, we have also seen that more foreign financial institutions are continuously increasing their investment in China," the official said.

From 2020 to the end of September 2023, foreign banks in China increased their capital by 18.73 billion yuan ($2.51 billion), according to the official.

The National Financial Regulatory Administration will continue to push for high-level financial sector opening-up, fully implement a foreign investment management system for pre-establishment national treatment plus a negative list, as well as fostering a fair, transparent and open policy and business environment.

The regulator said it will further explore differentiated management toward foreign financial institutions and support them to participate more comprehensively and deeply in China's financial market and better serve the real economy.

US investment bank Citigroup said in an October 9 press release that it has agreed to sell its onshore consumer wealth portfolio in China, including clients, assets under management and deposits to HSBC Bank China.

In August, the State Council, China's cabinet, issued a 24-point guideline to improve the climate for foreign investment and attract more funds, vowing to strengthen the foreign investment climate in six key ways including improving the quality of utilizing foreign investment and ensuring national treatment for foreign-backed enterprises.

In the first nine months of the year, foreign direct investment in the Chinese mainland in actual use stood at 919.97 billion yuan, down 8.4 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Commerce said Friday.

The ministry said the decline was due to the slow pace of the global economic recovery and the high base recorded last year.

Global Times