This Day, That Year: Jan 12

Editor's note: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China.

On Jan 12, 1996, China Minsheng Bank was founded by Jing Shuping, former chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. It was the country's first private commercial bank.

When the bank was registered, 85 percent of its 1.38 billion yuan ($203 million) share capital came from enterprises that were not State-owned.

An item from China Daily on Jan 13, 1996, showed customers lining up for service at the bank.

China Minsheng Bank was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2000. Jing resigned as Minsheng's chairman in 2006 because of poor health, but he remained as honorary chairman until his death at the age of 91 in Beijing in 2009.

In 2014, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission launched a trial program to allow the creation of private banks and ease the entry of private capital into the banking sector. It has been called one of the biggest regulatory shifts in the country's banking sector in decades. The first five banks were approved late that year.

Since then, China has been encouraging more private capital investment in rural commercial banks. The nation is also urging private companies to merge, acquire and restructure problematic rural credit cooperatives to defuse institutional risks and promote ownership reform.

As of September, there were 17 private banks operating across the country.

In January 2015, WeBank, a joint venture led by Tencent Holdings, gave out its first individual loan.

With 30 percent of the total shares, Tencent is the largest shareholder of the Chinese mainland's first private internet bank.

It offers deposit, lending and wealth management products to individuals and enterprises.

The bank earned 1.45 billion yuan in profit in 2017 and held assets totaling 81.7 billion yuan.