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R 210837Z JUN 06
FM AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1444
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
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RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUANGZHOU 018103 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EFIN EINV KPAO CH
SUBJECT: PAS Speaker Barth Relates U.S. Banking Experience 
to China 
 
 
¶1. SUMMARY:  Visiting speaker James Barth spoke to banking 
regulators, attorneys, and students in Guangzhou about the 
development of financial systems and similarities between 
the U.S. and China experience.  He highlighted the role of 
governments in banking industry bailouts, foreign ownership 
of banks, and the futility of imposing a universal model for 
financial regulation.  Attendees appreciated Barth's 
enthusiastic presentations and participated eagerly in the 
discussions.  END SUMMARY 
 
¶2. James Barth is a participant in the China Mission's 
visiting speakers program.  He is currently the Lowder 
Eminent Scholar in Finance at Auburn University and a Senior 
Fellow at the Milken Institute.  He recently served as 
leader of an international team advising the People's Bank 
of China on banking reform and coauthored a book titled 
"Rethinking Bank Regulation and Supervision: Till Angels 
Govern".  During his June 13-14 visit to Guangzhou, Barth 
held separate meetings with officials from the China Banking 
and Regulatory Commission, attorneys from H.J.M. law office, 
and students and professors from Sun Yatsen and South China 
Normal universities. 
 
Similarities with the U.S. Experience 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. In his presentations, Barth drew parallels between the 
development of financial systems in the United States and 
China.  For example, during the first 60 years of the United 
States, U.S. banks were owned by state governments, with 
politicians sitting on boards and ordering loans to 
particular companies or industries.  Separately, U.S. banks 
in the 1980's earned approximately 90 percent of their 
income from interest rates, similar to China's banks today. 
Since then, U.S. banks have developed a number of services, 
the fees of which account for half of their total income. 
Lastly, the U.S. banking industry was faced with massive non- 
performing loans in the late 1980's, in part because of 
overinvestment in the real estate sector.  To avert a 
widespread crisis, the U.S. government spent USD 200 billion 
to bail out its banks -- reflecting China's current efforts 
to recapitalize its own banks. 
 
China Has Room to Improve 
------------------------- 
 
¶4. Barth also contrasted the characteristics of the U.S. and 
Chinese financial systems.  China's system is oriented 
toward banking (with the big four state-owned banks 
accounting for over half of the industry's assets).  The 
U.S. system, however, is capital market intensive, with 
stock and bond markets serving as key sources of funding for 
companies.  Chinese companies thus are without a "spare 
tire" -- in the event of a banking collapse, companies 
cannot easily generate money from alternate sources.  Barth 
also noted the lack of deposit insurance in the Chinese 
system.  Deposit insurance, which guarantees that investors 
will recap their money in the event of a banking crisis, is 
a vital part of any healthy banking system.  Fortunately 
China is reportedly drafting just such a law.  Barth also 
said that China needs to increase the amount of banks loans 
to small and medium enterprises.  He discussed his 
successful efforts to convince U.S. banks that a low-rate 
credit card for SMEs is profitable. 
 
Who Should Control the Banks? 
----------------------------- 
 
¶5. During discussions, participants revealed a particular 
interest on the role of the private sector and foreign 
ownership in China's banking industry.  Barth estimated that 
98 percent of China's banking industry is controlled by the 
government, in comparison to none in the United States and 
United Kingdom.  He said foreign investment undeniably 
brings benefits to the banking industries of developing 
countries, including managerial skills, technology, and 
funding.  Nevertheless, there is no definitively "correct" 
amount of foreign investment for all countries.  Both the 
United States and New Zealand have healthy banking 
industries, despite the fact that foreign ownership in the 
U.S. banking industry is 20 percent while in New Zealand it 
is 98 percent.  In China's case, Barth said the government 
is pursuing a logical course by targeting foreign ownership 
in particular regions and in smaller banks before opening up 
its big four banks. 
 
A Universal Model Does Not Exist 
-------------------------------- 
 
GUANGZHOU 00018103  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶6.  Students and regulators reacted positively to Barth's 
enthusiastic presentation style as well as the substance of 
his talks.  They asked questions about the effect of the 
Sarbanes-Oxley Act on U.S. competitiveness, China's real 
estate boom, and the ideal model for regulation of a 
financial industry.  In response to the latter question, 
Barth said no such model exists and those who proclaim a 
universal solution are misguided.  Each country is unique, 
particularly in the development stage of their government 
and commercial institutions, and thus each requires a 
different model.  Indeed, a country may have "beautiful" 
financial laws, which exactly reflect those used by the most 
developed countries, but still suffer from slow growth and 
weak capital markets. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶7.  It is noteworthy that so many students were interested 
in what is ordinarily considered a dry subject.  This may be 
in part because the Chinese press has made China's financial 
industry an everyday topic.  Regardless, educated Chinese 
people realize that their country's financial institutions 
are in fact important to their lives and seem genuinely 
interested in learning from the U.S. experience. 
 
DONG