Which bank was the first city commercial bank to operate across regions?

Since the opening of the first city commercial bank (hereinafter referred to as "city commercial bank") Shanghai Bank Ningbo Branch in 2006, the cross-regional development of city commercial banks has gone through five years. In the past five years, the cross-regional development of city commercial banks has been steadily promoted, showing a trend of "accelerating speed and expanding scope" on the whole. By the end of 20 10, a considerable number of city commercial banks have achieved cross-regional development, which has also become an important driving force for the rapid development of city commercial banks in recent years. Cross-regional development not only enhances the overall strength of city commercial banks, but also brings a series of new problems to city commercial banks. Risk management bears the brunt, especially the bill fraud case of Qilu Bank exposed at the end of 20 10, which urges people to re-examine and think about the rapid development of city commercial banks in recent years, especially the cross-regional development. Under this background, on the basis of comprehensively summarizing the cross-regional development of city commercial banks in the past five years, especially in 20 10, the author emphatically analyzes the characteristics and existing problems of the cross-regional development of city commercial banks, and puts forward some countermeasures and suggestions for the next development.

Present situation of cross-regional development of city commercial banks

Regulatory access policy is the premise and foundation of cross-regional development of city commercial banks. Up to now, the regulatory authorities have initially established a cross-regional development access policy system for city commercial banks. In 2006, the China Banking Regulatory Commission issued the Measures for the Implementation of Administrative Licensing Matters of China Commercial Banks, which clarified the basic conditions for city commercial banks to set up branches in different places, and marked the elimination of policy obstacles for cross-regional development of city commercial banks. In the same year, the China Banking Regulatory Commission promulgated the Measures for the Administration of Branches of City Commercial Banks in Different Places, which formally clarified the specific requirements and operational procedures for city commercial banks to set up branches in different places. The introduction of this method has opened the prelude to the large-scale cross-regional development of city commercial banks. In April, 2009, China Banking Regulatory Commission issued the Opinions on Adjusting the Market Access Policy for Branches of Small and Medium-sized Commercial Banks (Trial), which relaxed the relevant restrictions on the establishment of branches across regions of city commercial banks and adjusted the approval process for the establishment of branches in different places in the province.

With the improvement of cross-regional access policy and the relaxation of the policy of setting up branches in different places in the province, the cross-regional development of city commercial banks has been rapidly promoted. By the end of 20 10, * * 78 city commercial banks had achieved cross-regional development within or outside the province, and * * * set up 286 branches and overseas representative offices in different places. In 20 10, 65 city commercial banks set up branches across regions 103. Among them, 30 city commercial banks have set up 42 branches across provinces. The cross-regional development of city commercial banks has been carried out in a wider scope, the long-standing business geographical restrictions have been gradually broken, and the service network of city commercial banks has been greatly expanded.

From the perspective of cross-regional development mode, cross-regional development within and outside the province is promoted in parallel, basically following the principle of "first within the province and then outside the province". Large banks are more cross-regional outside the province, while small and medium-sized city commercial banks are limited to cross-regional within the province. Especially in April 2009, the CBRC changed the establishment of branches in different places in the province (autonomous region) where the legal person is domiciled to be accepted and approved by the banking regulatory bureau, and the pace of cross-regional development of city commercial banks in the province has obviously accelerated. The data shows that among the 103 off-site sub-branches established by city commercial banks in 20 10, there are 60 off-site sub-branches in the province, accounting for nearly 60%.

After five years of cross-regional development, some banks have initially formed a national or regional business network layout. One, represented by Bank of Shanghai and Bank of Beijing, set up 8-9 branches in different places all over the country, covering the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Bohai Rim and the central and western regions, and the national business network structure was initially established; The other, represented by Bank of Jiangsu and Bank of Shang Hui, has achieved full network coverage in their provinces and basically formed a regional business network. In addition, more city commercial banks are still in the initial stage of cross-regional development.

Characteristics of Cross-regional Development of City Commercial Banks

Judging from the situation in recent years, the cross-regional development of city commercial banks has the following four characteristics:

Cross-regional development has accelerated.

With the improvement of the overall strength of city commercial banks and the gradual improvement of regulatory policies for cross-regional development, the cross-regional development of city commercial banks has shown the characteristics of accelerated speed in recent years. First, the speed is accelerating year by year. According to the author's statistics, in 2008, * * * 34 city commercial banks set up 56 branches in different places (including branches inside and outside the province and overseas representative offices, including preparation, the same below); In 2009, * * * 49 city commercial banks set up 8 1 branches in different places; 20 10/0,65 city commercial banks set up branches in different places 103. Cross-regional development has accelerated significantly. Second, the pace of cross-regional development of small and medium-sized city commercial banks has accelerated. In 2009, China Banking Regulatory Commission relaxed the policy requirements for cross-regional development of city commercial banks in the province, and the pace of cross-regional development of small and medium-sized city commercial banks in the province was obviously accelerated. For example, 20 10 Fudian Bank set up five branches in different places in the province (including 1 overseas representative offices), Kunlun Bank and Nanchang Bank set up four branches respectively, and Shengjing Bank set up three branches in different places.

Cross-regional development is in full swing.

In recent years, the number of city commercial banks that have achieved cross-regional development has risen rapidly, and their proportion in all city commercial banks has been increasing. Statistics show that by the end of 20 10 * *, 78 city commercial banks had achieved cross-regional development within or outside the province, accounting for 53% of all 147 city commercial banks. Among them, there are 40 city commercial banks that set up branches in different provinces, accounting for 27%. Among the city commercial banks that have achieved cross-regional development, there are super-large city commercial banks such as Bank of Shanghai and Bank of Beijing, large city commercial banks such as Bank of Hangzhou, medium-sized city commercial banks such as Bank of Jinzhou, and small city commercial banks such as Changjiang Commercial Bank. From the perspective of cross-regional development path and scope, cross-regional development within and outside the province and the establishment of overseas representative offices have been promoted in all directions. City commercial banks choose different paths according to their own characteristics and strength.

The eastern region and developed cities are the first choice for cross-regional city commercial banks.

By analyzing the cross-regional development paths of city commercial banks that have achieved cross-regional development, we can find an obvious feature, that is, after being approved for cross-regional development, city commercial banks often choose the eastern coastal areas first, especially the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and Bohai Rim. In the choice of cities, Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenzhen and other hot cities with developed economy and strong financial resources are given priority. Statistics show that (see figure1) in 2010, there were 55 branches in the eastern region, accounting for 54%. There is 18 in the central region, accounting for17%; There are 30 in the western region, accounting for 29%. The number of branches set up by city commercial banks in the eastern region is more than that in the central and western regions combined. The statistical results of city commercial banks setting up inter-provincial branches in different places illustrate this feature more clearly. In 20 10, the number of inter-provincial branches of city commercial banks was 40 (excluding overseas representative offices), and the number of branches in eastern, central and western regions was 26, 7 and 7 respectively, accounting for 64%, 18% and 18% respectively. The establishment of inter-provincial branches of city commercial banks is obviously inclined to the eastern region.

The pace of cross-regional development of city commercial banks in the eastern region has accelerated.

The CBRC's approval standard for cross-regional development of city commercial banks is mainly regulatory rating, while the regulatory rating of city commercial banks in the eastern region is generally better than that in the central and western regions, which makes the cross-regional development of city commercial banks in the eastern region faster and the number of city commercial banks that achieve cross-regional development is also more. Statistics show that by the end of 20 10, among the 47 city commercial banks in China, 40 city commercial banks have set up inter-provincial branches. In terms of regional distribution, there are 28 in the eastern region, 5 in the central region and 7 in the western region, accounting for 69%, 13% and 18% respectively (see Figure 2). The advantages of the eastern region are very obvious. This is also the embodiment of "Matthew effect" in the cross-regional development of city commercial banks. Judging from the speed of cross-regional development, there are 6 city commercial banks with more than 5 branches outside the province, all of which are city commercial banks in the eastern region.

Problems brought by the cross-regional development of city commercial banks

The cross-regional development of city commercial banks is a process from scratch and gradually improved. Because city commercial banks have been confined to a single city for a long time and lack cross-regional management experience, some problems will inevitably appear in the early stage of cross-regional development, especially in the case of imperfect relevant regulatory policies. Judging from the current situation, the problems in the cross-regional development of city commercial banks are concentrated in four aspects.

Lack of cross-regional development strategy, cross-regional development path is highly homogeneous.

The practice of cross-regional development in the past five years shows that most city commercial banks take "staking a horse" as the guiding ideology and lack clear and scientific cross-regional development strategies. The results are as follows: First, the cross-regional development path is highly homogeneous. First, the choice of developed areas and economically developed first-tier cities has led to a large number of city commercial banks entering these areas and cities in a short period of time; Judging from the situation of city commercial banks that have set up many branches across provinces, their cross-regional target areas are basically the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and the Bohai Rim, and only a few branches are distributed in the central and western regions. Second, cross-regional development lacks characteristics, and the target city for cross-regional development has not been selected according to its own characteristics and the economic characteristics of the city where it is located. After cross-regional development, the original characteristics can not be copied and played, and the business development of branches in different places is affected. In reality, some small-scale city commercial banks with obvious business characteristics have entered big cities such as Shanghai and Nanjing, and their unique businesses can't adapt to the local market, their original advantages can't be brought into play, and their business development is not ideal, which is the best explanation.

Concentrate on entering developed regions and cities, disrupting the local financial order.

Influenced by inertial thinking and driven by interests, city commercial banks often choose economically developed regions and cities first for cross-regional development, which leads to a large number of city commercial banks entering certain regions and cities in a short time. Statistics show that by the end of 20 10, there were 286 cross-regional branches of city commercial banks, including 67 in the eastern region/kloc-0, accounting for about 58%; 52 in the central region, accounting for about18%; There are 67 in the western region, accounting for about 23%. In recent years, the number of city commercial banks that have established branches in different places (including preparation) in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenzhen and Chongqing has reached 8 1 1, 10, 12 and 8 respectively (see Figure 3). This situation has caused two major problems: first, it has aggravated the imbalance of the regional distribution pattern of financial resources in China, and a large number of city commercial banks have concentrated in the eastern region, which will further accumulate financial resources in the eastern region, thus aggravating the financial dual pattern between the eastern region and the central and western regions, which is not conducive to the healthy development of the financial system. The second is to further increase the degree of banking competition in developed regions and cities, especially in a short period of time, a large number of city commercial banks have concentrated in a certain city, resulting in a shortage of financial talents and an increase in the flow of existing employees, which has an impact on the normal business development of local banks; However, the newly opened branches of city commercial banks are rapidly forming scale, which will inevitably increase their business expansion, thus intensifying the competition in the banking industry. Under the pressure of assessment and survival, even illegal business appeared, disrupting the local financial order.

The lack of management and control mode for branches in different places increases the risk of cross-regional development.

For a long time, city commercial banks have only conducted business in a single city, lacking management experience in different places. After cross-regional development, the original two-level management structure of a single city general branch has been transformed into a three-level management structure of cross-regional general branches, and the management chain has been lengthened, and the management process and mode need to be changed accordingly, which puts forward new requirements for city commercial banks. However, the current situation of cross-regional development of city commercial banks shows that most city commercial banks have not yet established an effective management mode of branches in different places, and still largely follow the traditional management mode of branches in the same city. Neither the management ability nor the service guarantee ability of branches in different places can meet the requirements of cross-regional development. Especially in order to quickly open the local market, most city commercial banks implement the talent localization strategy for off-site branches, and even the main managers of branches are all recruited from local peers, which makes the off-site branches of city commercial banks have the meaning of "joining stores" to some extent, with great potential risks. If the head office does not have a strong control mode and means, it is easy to get out of control in the process of rapid development across regions.

Cross-regional development impacts the original positioning of city commercial banks and intensifies the homogenization problem with big banks.

Small and medium-sized enterprise business is the traditional advantage business of city commercial banks, and it is also the basic market positioning of city commercial banks. After cross-regional development, under the pressure of profit, different branches of city commercial banks need to scale up in a short time. Therefore, it is bound to tend to grab large enterprises and make big projects. On the one hand, the original positioning and advantages of city commercial banks can not be copied to branches in different places, and the cross-regional development characteristics cannot be formed, which affects the sustainability of cross-regional development. On the other hand, expanding business will occupy more resources and credit lines of the head office, further affecting the market positioning of city commercial banks serving small and medium-sized enterprises, and aggravating the existing problems of homogenization development and homogenization competition between city commercial banks and big banks. Especially in the process of rapid cross-regional development of a city commercial bank, it will inevitably impact and weaken the already formed market positioning of serving small and medium-sized enterprises.