"There's no doubt that the personal wealth of individuals, especially those in major cities, is growing twice as fast as the gross domestic product."

A ringside view of gradual changes in the banking sector

I was fortunate to have worked for a foreign bank as well as a domestic bank in the past four and half years and witness the gradual opening up of the banking sector since China became a member of the World trade Organization (WTO) five years ago.

"Banks should rethink their growth strategies and give up product innovation in favor of process and service improvements."

Major domestic and foreign banks have adapted well to the opening up of the banking sector, but to break free from the pack they must micro-manage processes to gain the competitive advantage in the next five years.

As I was writing this column in the afternoon of Monday, March 19, I was interrupted by two telephone calls. Both had something to do with the financial services we have here in China. The first was from folks at home: “We're going to delay our mortgage payment this month.”

Editor's note: The 31st China Daily CEO Roundtable was held on March 16 in Beijing. Its theme was “The New Era of China's Banking Sector: Complete Opening, Financial Innovation and Sustainable Banking”. More than 30 representatives from government regulators, domestic banks, foreign fi nancial institutions and the industry joined the discussion.

Regulator reviews rules to create a level playing field

"China will make great efforts to develop its capital market. The nation aims to build a multi-level capital market system and expand the size of direct financing."

China's capital market will be one of the largest, most open and solid in the world by 2020, Qi Bin, director of the Research Center with the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said at the 31st China Daily CEO Roundtable in Beijing.

A sizzling economy, inflationary risk and asset price bubbles — all possible results of too much liquidity, one of the thorny issues currently facing China. To find a way out, China Daily spoke to Ba Shusong, a renowned economist with the Development Research Center of the State Council, the government's think-tank.