Looking at New Implementing Rules for Foreign Financial Institutions

By Stephen M. Harner

For proponents of the "glass half full" view of Chinese banking regulation, the PRC Administration of Foreign-invested Financial Institutions Regulations Implementing Rules (hereinafter the Implementing Rules) promulgated by the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) on July 26 2004, and effective from September 1 are certain to be regarded as a substantive step toward "national treatment" and easier access to China's banking market. For the "glass half empty" school, however, there is little to alter their position that foreign institutions remain hobbled and impeded by essentially protectionist regulations.