China's Banking Transformation

The Untold Story

James Stent

This is the first book on Chinese banking that is written by someone who has served for a number of years within not just one, but two Chinese banks.
This is the only book on Chinese banking that challenges the consensus foreign view of Chinese banking as fragile and dysfunctional.
This is the only book that places contemporary Chinese banking within a context of traditional Chinese culture and within a broader market socialist economy dominated by the Communist Party. It is also the only book that compares Chinese banking today with both Chinese banking pre-1949, and also with the banking systems at similar stages of development in other Northeast Asian nations.
Stent makes two arguments that are not made by others: Chinese banks have transformed over the past 15 years into modern entities with high levels of professional competence, and Chinese banks are deeply embedded in a traditional Chinese cultural cognitive framework.

China's Banking Transformation

The Untold Story

James Stent

Description

In this timely and provocative book, James Stent, a banker with decades of experience in Asian banking and fluency in Chinese language, explains how Chinese banks work, analyzes their strengths and weaknesses, and sets forth the challenges they face in a slowing economy. Without minimizing the real issues Chinese banks face, China's Banking Transformation challenges negative media accounts and reports of "China bears". Based on his 12 years of service on the boards of China Minsheng Bank, a privately owned listed bank, and China Everbright Bank, a state-controlled listed bank, the author brings the informed view of an insider to the reality of Chinese banking.

China's Banking Transformation demonstrates that Chinese banks have transformed into modern, well-run commercial banks, playing a vital role supporting China's extraordinary economic growth. Acknowledging that China's banks are different from Western banks, the author explains that they are hybrid banks, borrowing extensively from Western models, but at the same time operating within a traditional Chinese cultural framework and in line with China's governance model.

From his personal experience working at board level, Stent describes the governance and management of China's banks, including the role of the Communist Party. He sees China's banks as embedded in ancient concepts of how government and society work in China, and also as actors within a market socialist political economy. The Chinese banking system today bears similarities with banking in Northeast Asian "developmental states" of recent past, and also pre-1949 Chinese banking.

As the first account of Chinese banking by a Westerner who has worked in China's banks, China's Banking Transformation should be read by anyone interested in the political economy of contemporary China, in Asian development issues, and in banking issues generally. The book dispels misconceptions and provides insight into the financial aspects of China's economic growth story.

China's Banking Transformation

The Untold Story

James Stent

Chapter 1: China's Hybrid Banks
Chapter 2: Culture Matters
Chapter 3: Leninism and Pragmatism: of China's Communist Party
Chapter 4: Transformation from Bursars to Bankers
Chapter 5: Bankers
Chapter 6: Systems
Chapter 7: Power of the State
Chapter 8: Financial Structure, Deep but Narrow
Chapter 9: Coming in and Going Out
Chapter 10: China's Banks, Sui Generis?
Chapter 11: Collapsing or Adapting?
Chapter 12: Reform Directions
Chapter 13: Conclusion

China's Banking Transformation

The Untold Story

James Stent

Author Information

James Stent, Independent Author

James Stent served for 12 years on the boards of China Minsheng Bank and China Everbright Bank in Beijing, and is presently on the boards of banks in Mongolia and Myanmar. Altogether, he has been engaged in commercial banking in Asia for more than four decades, starting with Citibank and Crocker National Bank in the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Thailand, prior to joining the management of a Thai bank in Bangkok. Stent now divides his time between residences in Bangkok and California. Fluent in Chinese and Thai, he studied economic development at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.

China's Banking Transformation

The Untold Story

James Stent

Reviews and Awards

"James Stent has produced a study that is unique among the hundreds of books written about China and its economic transformation. He approaches the topic of banking reform in China as a participant in the process and provides distinct insight into Chinese politics and culture as it influences the way China does business. China's Banking Transformation is a remarkable achievement and should be read by both China scholars, those interested in Chinese banking, and also by those searching for a better and broader understanding of China's economic reforms." - Dwight H. Perkins, Harvard University

"James Stent makes a compelling case as to why fears of a Chinese banking crisis are vastly overblown — very much at odds with the consensus mindset in the West that remains enamored with the dark side of China. His analysis of the Chinese banking system in the context of China's unique hybrid economic model is a must read for those who want to get China right." - Stephen Roach, Senior Fellow Yale University Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and Former Chairman Morgan Stanley Asia

"This opportune, well-conceived volume can stand as at least a partial corrective to the current wave of negative polemics respecting the presumed behavior of China's economy. Relying on decades of Asian banking experience, including a dozen years in the PRC itself, Stent puts forth a strikingly positive assessment of China's ongoing banking metamorphosis. While his interpretation of Chinese cultural norms is at times hackneyed, Stent forcefully argues that Confucianism as well as the ubiquitous party-state have engendered a distinctive banking system capably serving national development goals as well as financial profits. From mere bursars of state funds under Maoism, China's banks have steadily emerged as modern, well-run commercial institutions functioning within a "market socialist" political economy." - R. P. Gardella, United States Merchant Marine Academy, Professor emeritus

"This opportune, well-conceived volume can stand as at least a partial corrective to the current wave of negative polemics respecting the presumed behavior of China's economy. Relying on decades of Asian banking experience, including a dozen years in the PRC itself, Stent puts forth a strikingly positive assessment of China's ongoing banking metamorphosis. Stent relies on his extensive contacts with a wide range of bank personnel to critique ill-informed and often biased Western assessments." - R.P Gardella, United states Merchant Marine Academy

"Understanding the wider political and economic context and modus operandi of China's banks should be the first step for engaging with the sector in China.Stent delivers this through his detailed, thorough and comprehensive account of Chinas banking transformation." - Tim Summers, Asian Review of Books