ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the different, and sometimes conflicting, rationales that have been adopted in China as officials attempt to build a regulatory framework for the banking sector. It demonstrate how Western bankers and their representative organizations attempt to resist these practices by drawing on orthodox economic arguments that it is only through 'open' market competition and 'light touch' regulation that China can improve domestic banking efficiency. The chapter focuses particularly on the way in which Western bankers, and their representative bodies, interact with China's regulatory institutions. It explains how China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) aimed to reform domestic banks through adopting an international 'best practice' approach to regulation. The chapter discusses the restrictions which were, in practice, placed on foreign banks and limited their ability to compete in the Chinese market. In order to gain credibility, the CBRC has drawn on numerous international frameworks to develop its own regulatory system.
