By Wang Gang, Research Team on “Policy Options and Measures in the Battle of Financial Risk Control and Prevention”, Research Institute of Finance, DRC

Research Report, No. 103, 2020 (Total 5847) 2020-5-11

Abstract: Impacted by COVID-19, China’s small and medium-sized banks are having great capital pressure, and the non-listed banks are having more capital supplement difficulties. As one of the capital supplement bonds that can be included into other Tier One Capital of banks, the issuance of perpetual bonds has great potential. Since the beginning of this year, although the progress of perpetual bonds programs has been accelerated in small- and medium-sized banks, they are still facing some profound problems such as the strict investment access, high costs of issuance, and lack of liquidity. Work needs to be done to grasp the window period of issuance when the interest rate is relatively low, and to let the issuance of perpetual bonds serve as the critical focus for easing the risks of small- and medium-sized banks, supporting the fund-raising of real economies especially those small- and micro-sized enterprises. The approval process needs to be further optimized, the scope of mid- and long-term investors needs to be appropriately enlarged, the key terms need to be enriched and refined and the liquidity support needs to be strengthened. Under the guidance of inclusive finance policies, efforts need to be made to provide credit enhancement for the issuance of perpetual bonds in small- and medium-sized banks that are in accordance with the requirements, offer tax relief for investors and improve the outcome with targeted and optimized input.

Keywords: perpetual bonds, small- and medium-sized banks, capital supplement, Tier One Capital