US subprime crisis has little direct impact on China's major banks
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-03-04 12:43

BEIJING - The direct impact of US subprime loan crisis on major Chinese banks remains slim, said heads of major commercial banks on the sideline of the annual full session of the country's top political advisory body.

"The direct impact of the subprime crisis is rather small, since the exposure of several national banks to the US subprime lending market is relatively limited," said Yang Kaisheng, president of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).

Yang is a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which opened its annual full session on Monday afternoon.

He confirmed that ICBC will release its 2007 achievement report at the end of March, which "will have a complete and accurate picture on the bank's investment in mortgage-backed securities."

"The overall amount will be small for sure," he said.

Yang admitted the indirect impact of the subprime crisis on China's banking industry, which affected the function of the country's entity economy and the management of commercial banks as well.

The subprime crisis, nevertheless, has taught a lesson for Chinese banks in risk management and crisis control from within, believed Jiang Chaoliang, a CPPCC National Committee member and board chairman of the Bank of Communications (BOC).

"A bank's bottom line is to never provide the loan to candidates short of credit, and the subprime crisis is just the result of the violation of this bottom line," he said.

Ma Weihua,a CPPCC member and president of China Merchants Bank (CMB), shared the opinion, saying that the subprime crisis signaled a warning for China's banking industry.

"The risk awareness should be emphasized and the risk management enhanced. The key lies in always bearing in mind to maximize the interest of share holders," he said.

The US subprime crisis has been dragging down world's major stocks for weeks and making it difficult for the US and European banks, which bought much of the repackaged subprime debts, to resell it as its value dropped with serial defaults and bankruptcies.