People's Bank of China, Commercial Bank Information Disclosure Tentative Measures

Promulgated: May 21 2002
Effective: as of date of promulgation for non-urban commercial banks. Urban commercial banks shall implement the Measures step by step from January 1 2003 to January 1 2006 (Article 31).
Interpreting authority: People's Bank of China
Applicability: The Measures apply to commercial banks established according to law in the PRC, including wholly Chinese-owned commercial banks, wholly foreign-owned commercial banks, Sino-foreign equity joint venture banks and foreign bank branches (Article 2).

Main contents: The Measures establish the minimum requirements for information disclosure, but commercial banks may disclose more information than required by the Measures at their own discretion (Article 3). Listed commercial banks shall abide by relevant provisions of the securities regulatory authorities in addition to the Measures with regard to information disclosure (Article 3)
Commercial banks shall disclose such information as financial and accounting reports, of all types of risk management, corporate governance and important matters in the year in accordance with the Measures (Article 8). Accounting statement annotations shall disclose important affiliated transactions that total more than Rmb30 million or account for at least 1% of the bank's total net assets (Article 14). Important matters in the year shall at least include the names of the ten largest shareholders and any changes thereof during the year, increases or decreases in registered capital, and mergers and acquisitions (Article 21).
Information regarding branches of foreign banks shall be consolidated and disclosed by the main reporting branch. Foreign bank branches do not need to make disclosure where the Measures apply specifically to legal person institutions (Article 22).
Commercial banks shall compile annual reports in Chinese within four months after the completion of the accounting year, although the People's Bank of China may grant extensions (Article 24). Annual reports shall be submitted to the People's Bank of China before public release (Article 25). Banks should assure that shareholders and other interested individuals have prompt access to the annual report (Article 26). Commercial banks with less than Rmb1 billion in total assets or Rmb500 million in deposits are not required to make disclosure (Article 29).
Related legislation: PRC, People's Bank of China Law, Mar 18 1995, CLP 1995 No.5 p23 and PRC, Commercial Banking Law, May 10 1995, CLP 1995 No.5 p32