As the turmoil from sub-prime crisis ripples across the global credit sectors, such as prime lending, consumption-related loans, major international banks have incurred more than US$300 billion write-downs. However, Chinese banks, which were viewed as the biggest risk for the “coming collapse” of China about nine years ago, have witnessed their profits soaring, mainly through a simple old fashioned deposit-lend model. The restructuring that has been conducted within the state-owned commercial banks has also improved their balance sheets dramatically.

China’s banking industry certainly deserves a closer look as it has provided capital for nearly 80% of the non-financial enterprises’ fundraisings in the world’s most populous nation as well as the fastest growing major economies.

The six chapters of this report elaborate the overall performance of China’s banking sector: Chapter One provides an overview of China’s banking industry; Chapter Two explains the related regulations and how China has restructured once debt-laden state-owned commercial banks; Chapter Three exams the business model of Chinese banks and the biggest potential risk ahead; Chapter Four explores bankcard services in China; Chapter Five and Six provide a detailed analysis to major Chinese banks and the performance of foreign banks as well as suggestions on foreign investment in the Chinese banking sector.