THE China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), the country’s banking regulator, said yesterday in two statements that it has approved another two private banks, with one in Shanghai and the other in Zhejiang Province.

    The approvals herald China’s latest batch of new private banks, part of a pilot program launched earlier this year and the first tentative step by the country to open its closely guarded banking sector to private investors.

    On July 25, the CBRC approved the establishment of three private banks, including Webank, funded by Shenzhen-based Internet giant Tencent.

    The two new private banks don’t have official English names yet. The CBRC requires them to be established within six months from yesterday.

    A 30-percent stake of the Zhejiang-based bank will be funded by a micro-business financing company indirectly controlled by Alibaba Group, another Chinese Internet giant.

    The new Shanghai-based private bank will have 30 percent of its funding from Juneyao Group, another Shanghai-based private conglomerate, and 15 percent of its funding will come from Metersbonwe Group, a leading casual wear apparel company in China.

    Currently, China has only one private bank in service, China Minsheng Bank, which was founded in 1996 in Beijing.

    (Xinhua)