In an informal talk in Shanghai last week, Douglas Red, principal financial adviser of Dutch banking group ING in China, said he was bullish on Chinese second-tier banks, but changes in the way they approach foreign investors will make them far more attractive.
Second tier banks constitute all the banks apart from the four big state-owned banks such as Bank of China, ICBC, Agricultural and Bank of China, said Red.
The second-tier banks are numerous and varied, however. Some, such as the city commercial banks, were set up from bankrupt rural credit cooperatives. China Merchants Banks and Minsheng bank are two leading second-tier banks, with Minsheng priding itself on being...
