E-commerce operators add banking to basket
Along with appliance makers, they are seen as best prospects on mainland to land new licences
E-commerce companies and household appliance makers are among the frontrunners for the first batch of private banks that are likely to get regulatory approval early this year.
Speculation on the likely candidates began to grow last week after the mainland's banking regulator said on Monday that three to five private banks would be approved in the first batch.
The move to prise open the highly concentrated banking sector to private investors was set in motion in the middle of last year. About 70 companies have since registered the proposed names of the banks they wish to set up, data from the Administration of Industry and Commerce shows.
Among them, eight companies have indicated that their banks would have 20 billion yuan in registered capital in total, or 2.5 billion yuan on average, according to their stock exchange filings.
Suning Commerce was among those with the greatest chance to snag a licence in the next couple of months, said analysts and a source close to the China Banking Regulatory Commission.
"Whether Suning will become one of the first private banks is closely watched by the market, as leading private companies across the nation are competing for the licence as well," said Jin Lin, an analyst at Orient Securities.
