People's Bank of China


The People's Bank of China is the central bank of the People's Republic of China responsible for carrying out monetary policy and regulation of financial institutions in mainland China, as determined by People's Bank Law and Commercial Bank Law. Valued at US$3.21 trillion, The People's Bank of China has had the largest financial asset holdings of any central bank in the world since July 2017. Though possessing a high degree of independence by Chinese standards, it remains a cabinet-level executive department of the State Council.

History

The bank was established on December 1, 1948, based on the consolidation of the Huabei Bank, the Beihai Bank and the Xibei Farmer Bank. The headquarters was first located in Shijiazhuang, Hebei, and then moved to Beijing in 1949. Between 1950 and 1978 the PBC was the only bank in the People's Republic of China and was responsible for both central banking and commercial banking operations. All other banks within Mainland China such as the Bank of China were either organized as divisions of the PBC or were non-deposit taking agencies.
From 1952 to 1955 government shares were added to private banks to make state-private banks, until under the first Five Year plan from 1955 to 1959 the PBOC had complete control of the private banks, making them branches of the PBOC, closely resembling the vision of Vladimir Lenin. With aid from the Soviet Union, the shares of private enterprises and with them industrial output followed a similar path, forming a Soviet-style planned economy.
With the exception of special allocations for rural development, the monolithic PBOC dominated all business transactions and credit until 1978, when, as part of the Chinese economic reforms, the State Council split off the commercial banking functions of the PB into four independent but state-owned banks, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, and the China Construction Bank. In 1983, the State Council promulgated that the PBC would function as the central bank of China.
Chen Yuan was instrumental in modernizing the bank in the early 1990s. Its central bank status was legally confirmed on March 18, 1995 by the 3rd Plenum of the 8th National People's Congress, and was granted a high degree of independence by an act that year. In 1998, the PBC underwent a major restructuring. All provincial and local branches were abolished, and the PBC opened nine regional branches, whose boundaries did not correspond to local administrative boundaries. In 2003, the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People's Congress approved an amendment law for strengthening the role of PBC in the making and implementation of monetary policy for safeguarding the overall financial stability and provision of financial services.

Management

The top management of the PBC are composed of the governor and a certain number of deputy governors. The governor of the PBC is appointed into or removed by the National People's Congress or its Standing Committee. The candidate for the governor of the PBC is nominated by the Premier of the People's Republic of China approved by the National People's Congress. When the National People's Congress is in adjournment, the Standing Committee sanctions the candidacy for the governor of the PBC. The deputy governors of the PBC are appointed to or removed from office by the Premier of the State Council.
The PBC adopts a governor responsibility system under which the governor supervises the overall work of the PBC while the deputy governors provide assistance to the governor to fulfill his or her responsibility.
The current governor is Yi Gang. Deputy governors of the management team include: Wang Huaqing, Pan Gongsheng, Fan Yifei, Guo Qingping, Zhang Xiaohui, and Yang Ziqiang. Former top-level managers include: Ms. Hu Xiaolian, Liu Shiyu, Li Dongrong and Ms. Jin Qi.

Structure

The PBC has established 9 regional branches, one each in Tianjin, Shenyang, Shanghai, Nanjing, Jinan, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Xi'an, 2 operations offices in Beijing and Chongqing, 303 municipal sub-branches and 1809 county-level sub-branches.
It has 6 overseas representative offices.
The PBC consists of 18 functional departments as below:
The following enterprises and institutions are directly under the PBC:
The PBOC is active in promoting financial inclusion policy and a member of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion.

List of governors

Interest rates

Previously, interest rates set by the bank were always divisible by nine, instead of by 25 as in the rest of the world.
However, since the central bank began to increase rates by 0.25 percentage points on October 19, 2010, this is no longer the case.
PBC latest interest rate changes:
Change dateInterest rate
August 25, 20154.600%
June 27, 20154.850%
May 10, 20155.100%
February 28, 20155.350%
November 21, 20145.600%
July 6, 20126.000%
June 8, 20126.310%
July 7, 20116.560%
April 6, 20116.310%
February 9, 20116.060%
December 26, 20105.810%

Reserve requirement ratio

PBC latest reserve requirement ratio changes:
Change dateReserve requirement ratioExtra cash for financial system
December 200821.0%
December 201120.5%350 billion yuan
May 201220.0%400 billion yuan
February 201519.5%600 billion yuan
April 201518.5%1.5 trillion yuan
August 201518.0%650 billion yuan

Foreign-exchange reserves

from 2004:
Year & monthForeign-exchange reserves
2004-01415.7
2004-02426.6
2004-03439.8
2004-04449
2004-05458.6
2004-06470.6
2004-07483
2004-08496.2
2004-09514.5
2004-10542.4
2004-11573.9
2004-12609.9
2005-01623.6
2005-02642.6
2005-03659.1
2005-04670.8
2005-05691
2005-06711
2005-09769
2005-12818.9
2006-01845.2
2006-02853.7
2006-03875.1
2006-04895
2006-05925
2006-06941.1
2006-07954.6
2006-08972
2006-09987.9
2006-101009.6
2006-111038.8
2006-121066.3
2007-011104.7
2007-021157.4
2007-031202
2007-041246.6
2007-051292.7
2007-061332.6
2007-071385.2
2007-081408.6
2007-091433.6
2007-101454.9
2007-111497
2007-121528.2
2008-011589.8
2008-021647.1
2008-031682.2
2008-041756.7
2008-051797
2008-061808.8
2008-071845.2
2008-081884.2
2008-091905.6
2008-101879.7
2008-111884.7
2008-121946
2009-011913.5
2009-021912.1
2009-031952.7
2009-042008.9
2009-052089.5
2009-062131.6
2009-072174.6
2009-082210.8
2009-092272.6
2009-102328.3
2009-112388.8
2009-122399.2
2010-012415.2
2010-022424.6
2010-032447.1
2010-042490.5
2010-052439.5
2010-062454.3
2010-072538.9
2010-082547.8
2010-092648.3
2010-102760.9
2010-112767.8
2010-122847.3
2011-012931.7
2011-022991.4
2011-033044.7
2011-063197.5
2011-073245.3
2011-083262.5
2011-093201.7
2011-103273.8
2011-113220.9
2011-123181.1
2012-013253.6
2012-023309.7
2012-033305
2012-043298.9
2012-053206.1
2012-063240
2012-073240
2012-083272.9
2012-093285.1
2012-103287.4
2012-113297.7
2012-123311.6
2013-013410
2013-023395.4
2013-033442.6
2013-043534.5
2013-053514.8
2013-063496.7
2013-073547.8
2013-083553
2013-093662.7
2013-103736.6
2013-113789.5
2013-123821.3
2014-013866.6
2014-023913.7
2014-033948.1
2014-043978.8
2014-053983.9
2014-063993.2
2014-073966.3
2014-083968.8
2014-093887.7
2014-103852.9
2014-113847.4
2014-123843
2015-013813.41
2015-023801.5
2015-033730.04
2015-043748.14
2015-053711.14
2015-063693.84
2015-073651.31
......
2017-053053.57
2017-063056.79
2017-073080.72
2017-083091.53
2017-093108.51
2017-103109.21
2017-113119.28
2017-123139.95
2018-013161.46
2018-023134.48
2018-033142.82