Chinese regulator to intensify bank oversight

BEIJING, Aug 7: Chinese regulators will subject the country's banks to intensified checks in a bid to ''strictly control the valves of credit,'' a leading banking official said in remarks released late on Sunday.

Jiang Dingzhi, vice chairman of China Banking Regulatory Commission, recently told officials that Chinese commercial banks faced risks from production gluts in industry, exchange rate reform and changes to interest rate setting, in comments published on the banking regulator's Web site (www.cbrc.gov.cn).

In recent weeks, Chinese officials have exhorted banks and local governments to strengthen implementation of Beijing's measures aimed at cooling an economy growing at its fastest pace since 1995 -- 11.3 percent from a year earlier in the second quarter.

Jiang said bank regulators would intensify supervision to ensure the ''reasonable control of the scale and rhythm of credit.'' Officials had to ''conscientiously implement central macro adjustment policies and strictly control the valves of credit, preventing and easing banking risks,'' Jiang said.

REUTERS