Stricter bank rules will take effect in early 2012: CBRC

BEIJING - The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) said on Tuesday that new rules setting tougher criteria for lenders' capital adequacy, provisions, leverage, and liquidity conditions will take effect at the beginning of 2012.

It published a guideline for adopting the new standards based on the Basel II and Basel III agreements, the new global regulatory standards set by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, a global group of central bank governors, on bank capital adequacy and liquidity.

"While catching up with international standards, we also retain some requirements widely used among Chinese commercial banks, such as a loan-to-deposit ratio of no more than 75 percent," said Fan Wenzhong, head of the international department under the CBRC at a news briefing on Tuesday. Commercial banks are expected to comply with all the new standards before the beginning of 2019, the CBRC said.