China Banks' Fund Sales May Have Topped $137 Billion

Chinese banks' sales of private wealth management products last year may have reached 1 trillion yuan ($137 billion) as they seek to broaden sources of revenue, the nation's banking regulator said.

The sales, which include mutual funds and investments overseas on behalf of clients, totaled nearly 600 billion yuan in the first nine months of 2007, the China Banking Regulatory Commission said in a statement posted on its Web site today.

China is letting state-owned banks expand into fund management, stock brokering and insurance to help them boost profits. Domestic banks face heightened competition from foreign rivals including Citigroup Inc. and HSBC Holdings Plc after they gained full access to the industry in December 2006.

In June, China's banking watchdog told the country's large and medium-sized lenders to triple the share of revenue they get from non-interest income over the next five to 10 years, which would bring them more in line with global banks.

Fees and commissions from services such as mutual fund distribution and insurance should account for half of revenue at nationwide banks, up from the current 17 percent, the regulator said in a June 6 statement. Overseas banks get 35 percent of earnings from non-interest income, China Chengxin International Credit Ratings Co., a domestic credit rating firm, said in 2005.

Today's release didn't say how much wealth management sales contributed to total revenue at Chinese banks.