Factors influencing the growth of foreign banks' branches in China

Because of the excess demand for branch licences and the Chinese government's policy to effectively ration banking licences, this paper suggests explaining the allocation of branch licences by the objectives of the Chinese government rather than by the objectives of foreign banks. Consequently, it examines what factors determined the supply of branch licences to foreign banks in China at a micro level. This is in contrast with the existing literature that focuses almost exclusively on the demand for branch licences by foreign banks. To consider the supply of branch licences, we construct detailed data about each foreign bank's organisations in China. (J Contemp China/GIGA)