THE direct impact of the United States subprime loan crisis on major Chinese banks remains slim, said heads of major commercial banks on the sidelines of the annual full session of the country's top political advisory body.
"The direct impact of the subprime crisis is rather small, since the exposure of several national banks to the US subprime lending market is relatively limited," said Yang Kaisheng, president of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
Yang is a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
The subprime crisis, nevertheless, has taught a lesson for Chinese banks in risk management and crisis control, said Jiang Chaoliang, a CPPCC National Committee member and chairman of the Bank of Communications.
"A bank's bottom line is to never provide loans to candidates short of credit, and the subprime crisis is just the result of the violation of this bottom line," he said.
Ma Weihua, president of China Merchants Bank, agreed, said the crisis highlighted the need for enhanced risk management.