中国银行业寻求软化资管新规

Chinese banks are engaged in a fierce lobbying campaign to soften new rules that would curtail shadow banking, in a test of the government’s determination to rein in runaway debt.

中国的银行正在奋力进行游说，试图软化将会限制影子银行业的新规，这将考验中国政府遏制失控的债务的决心。

The People’s Bank of China and four financial regulatory agencies jointly issued draft rules last month to eliminate implicit guarantees, regulatory arbitrage and maturity mismatch in the asset management sector.

上月，中国央行和4家金融监管机构联合发布新规草案。新规的目的是消除资产管理行业的隐性担保、监管套利和期限错配等问题。

Regulators have issued a steady stream of rules since 2010 to curb risky non-bank lending, but bankers said the latest rules went far beyond previous efforts. In focus is the Rmb29tn ($4.4tn) market for “wealth management products” that banks market to retail investors as a higher-yielding alternative to deposits.

自2010年以来，为了遏制高风险的非银行贷款，监管机构制定了一系列规则，但银行家表示，这一次的新规的力度远超之前。本次新规的关注点是29万亿元人民币（合4.4万亿美元）的“理财产品”市场。银行向个人投资者销售理财产品，作为储蓄存款的一种高收益替代品。

The regulations forbid banks from guaranteeing a rate of return on wealth management products. Instead, banks will have to mark the products to market based on their net asset value each day, essentially transforming them into traditional mutual funds.

在新规下，银行不得对理财产品承诺收益率保证。相反，银行必须依据理财产品的净值来确定产品价格。这在本质上把理财产品转化为传统的共同基金。

"These rules are radically disruptive, far more than anything we've seen before," said a wealth management executive at a mid-sized Chinese bank. “The overall direction is correct. Developed countries don’t have these kinds of guaranteed products. But we need more time for the transition.”

“这些规则极具破坏性，远超我们之前看到的程度。”一家中型的中资银行的理财主管说，“大方向是正确的。发达国家没有这种担保产品。但我们需要更多时间转型。”

Last week, a document circulated online containing detailed feedback from 10 mid-sized lenders during a November 30 meeting convened by the China Banking Association. The association responded that “there is no such thing as a joint submission to regulators” but did not deny a meeting had occurred. Two sources confirmed to the FT the document accurately summarised the meeting.

上周，一份在网上流传的文件披露了10家中型银行在11月30日中国银行业协会(China Banking Association)召开会议期间的反馈意见。该协会回应说“不存在10家股份制银行联合上书情况”，但没有否认此次会议的召开。有两方面消息来源向英国《金融时报》证实这份文件准确地总结了此次会议。

While the change shifts risks from banks to investors, bankers fear that, without guarantees, investors will stop buying the products, harming banks’ ability to raise funds. Non-bank financial institutions such as mutual funds and hedge funds are expected to benefit, since they will be able to compete with banks for investor funds on a more equal footing.

虽然这一变动将风险从银行转嫁给投资者，但银行家担心如果不做保证，投资者将停止购买此类产品，这将有损银行筹集资金的能力。预计共同基金和对冲基金等非银行金融机构将受益，因为它们将可以更平等地与银行竞争投资者资金。

The rules also restrict banks’ ability to shift loans off their balance-sheets or disguise on-balance-sheet loans as “investments” to evade capital-adequacy requirements.

这些规定还限制银行转移资产负债表上的贷款，或将表内贷款伪装成“投资”以规避资本充足率的要求。

In a direct appeal to policymakers’ desire to maintain strong growth, the document warned the rules would “reduce the strength of support for the real economy”. A significant share of wealth management funds flow to local governments to finance infrastructure projects, which have emerged as a crucial pillar of growth.

该文件警告称这些规则将“降低对实体经济的支持力度”，直接诉诸政策制定者保持强劲增长的愿望。有相当一部分的财富管理基金流入了地方政府，为基础设施项目提供资金，这些项目已成为增长的关键支柱。

The PBoC and the China Banking Regulatory Commission did not respond to requests for comment.

中国人民银行(PBoC)和中国银行业监督管理委员会(China Banking Regulatory Commission)没有回应置评请求。