A batch of Chinese privately owned banks that reformers hoped would direct loans to credit-starved consumers and small businesses have yet to achieve significant scale, denting hopes that they will transform the state-dominated banking system.
China’s banking regulator has revealed data for the first time on a group of five privately owned banks that Beijing approved in 2014 as part of a closely watched pilot programme. The group includes WeBank, backed by social media group Tencent Holdings, and MYBank, controlled by Ant Financial, the financial affiliate of ecommerce giant Alibaba Group.
As a group, the five pilot banks had total assets of Rmb133bn ($19bn) by the end of September and Rmb572m in the first three quarters on 2016, the regulator disclosed. That compares with Rmb217tn in banking assets for Chinese banks overall. If the group were a single institution, it would rank 18th among Chinese lenders by assets.