中國將取消銀行貸存比上限

China is to scrap bank lending caps in a bid to galvanise the slowing economy with credit, the latest milestone in liberalising the tightly controlled banking sector.

中國將取消銀行貸存比限制，試圖以信貸來提振不斷放緩的經濟。對於受到嚴格管控的中國銀行業來說，此舉是自由化道路上最新的一座里程碑。

The State Council, China’s cabinet, on Wednesday issued a draft proposal to ditch the country’s long-held loan-to-deposit ratio of 75 per cent. This follows April’s launch of a long-awaited deposit insurance system, a crucial step towards deregulating domestic interest rates and market-based capital allocation.

週三，中國國務院公佈了一份法律修正案草案，擬刪除存在已久的銀行貸存比不得超過75%的規定。此前，中國曾在今年4月推出了一項人們期盼已久的存款保險制度，向國內利率去監管化和資本配置市場化邁出了關鍵一步。

Scrapping the LDR cap, which could become law next year, would allow banks to act more like their peers elsewhere and seek alternative sources of funding such as the interbank markets. China’s banks have an overall LDR of about 65 per cent while the Australian banking system, for example, has an LDR of 113 per cent, according to ANZ economists.

取消貸存比限制的方案可能會在明年成爲正式法律條文，它將讓中國的銀行能以更類似國外同行的方式運作，並讓它們能夠從別的來源獲取資金，比如從銀行間市場。根據澳新銀行(ANZ)經濟學家的說法，中國銀行業整體貸存比約爲65%，而澳大利亞銀行業整體貸存比爲113%。

The changes, however, are not expected to lead to a wave of fresh lending, since weak demand from borrowers and lower risk appetite from the banks are bigger drags on credit growth than the LDR cap.

不過，這一改革預計不會引發新一波放貸潮，因爲借款方需求疲軟和銀行風險偏好降低纔是拖累信貸增長的最大因素。

Smaller institutions, which have nudged up against the cap more than their larger rivals who have far bigger deposit bases, are expected to be the key beneficiaries of the move.

比起存款基礎大得多的較大金融機構，較小金融機構觸及貸存比上限的次數更多。因此，後者預計會成爲這一舉措的主要受益者。

The country’s big four banks — Bank of China, ICBC, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China — have LDRs of less than 65 per cent, according to Capital Economics, while many smaller banks are already bumping up against the 75 per cent ceiling.

凱投宏觀(Capital Economics)的數據顯示，中國“四大行”——中國銀行(Bank of China)、中國工商銀行(ICBC)、中國建設銀行(China Construction Bank)和中國農業銀行(Agricultural Bank of Chian)——的貸存比不到65%，許多中小銀行的貸存比則已觸及75%的上限。

“The new move is again aiming at relaxing the funding constraint of smaller banks to encourage more lending to small businesses who are often crowded out by state-owned banks,” said Minggao Shen, head of China research at Citigroup.

花旗集團(Citigroup)中國研究主管沈明高表示：“這一新舉措再次把目標放在放寬中小銀行的資金限制上，這是爲了鼓勵它們更多地向小企業放貸。這些小企業在國有銀行眼中往往排不上號。”

China’s central bank has already lowered the proportion of deposits banks must hold in reserve — the reserve ratio requirement — twice this year, including a 100-basis point cut in April that was the largest move since the 2008 financial crisis.

今年，中國央行已兩次下調存款準備金率，包括在今年4月把存款準備金率下調100個基點——這是2008年金融危機以來的最大幅度下調。

The embrace of market forces only goes so far, however. Beijing made it clear where it wants any new lending to go in a statement that said the LDR removal would “strengthen the ability of financial institutions to lend more to the agriculture sector and small businesses”.

不過，中國對市場機制的接納是有保留的。在一份聲明中，中國政府明確表明了它希望新貸款流向何處。這份聲明稱，取消貸存比上限將“增強金融機構擴大‘三農’、小微企業等貸款的能力”。