China will further push forward the reform of the financial sector on the basis of the remarkable breakthrough it has achieved in revamping its state-owned commercial banks into joint-stock lenders.

Several state-owned banks have completed the joint-stock reform and got listed on the A-share markets, which has laid a solid foundation for them to further improve capital adequacy ratio, asset quality and corporate governance, Zhou told a press conference held on the sidelines of the ongoing parliament session.
 
More measures will be put into place this year to create a sound credit environment and make lenders earn more profits.

Three of the "big four" state-owned commercial banks, namely the Bank of China, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and the China Construction Bank, have all been transformed into joint-stock lenders with the first two listed on both the mainland and Hong Kong bourses and the CCB on the Hong Kong stock market.

The market-determined interest rate scheme will be improved as the government has gradually loosened control on interest rates setting in the monetary and bond markets.

The Shanghai inter-bank offered rate (SHIBOR) went into operation on Jan. 4. Based on the daily rate for all loans offered by sixteen major banks, SHIBOR provides a benchmark for pricing short-term bonds and derivatives on the money market, serves as a key indicator of interest rates in the market, and injects real- time market information into monetary policy.