A staff member counts banknotes at a bank in Qionghai of south China's Hainan Province.(Photo: Xinhua)

Banks shall not use price as a means to carry out unfair competition, and no fee should be levied without providing substantive services when it comes to financing businesses, a guideline released by China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission showed on Monday. 

The regulation, which aims to promote healthy and fair competition across the industry, states that prices for service items subject to market-regulated pricing shall be independently set by banks in accordance with the law and formed through market competition.

When setting price ranges, banks shall not excessively expand the upper and lower limit intervals and avoid price management requirements, banks shall not charge fees that are significantly higher than the price standard of external services, the regulations said. 

The regulations encourage banks to implement differentiated pricing for small and micro enterprises, reasonably formulate and adjust the price of service items to provide appropriate reductions and exemptions.

Chinese commercial banks are likely to see their profits grow by around 10 percent in 2021, the Bank of China Research Institute forecast in a recent report, according to Xinhua News Agency. 

Throughout 2021, China's banking sector accelerated recovery growth, providing more solid support to the real economy, the report noted.

Net profits for Chinese commercial banks in the first three quarters rose 11.5 percent year on year to 1.7 trillion yuan ($266.8 billion), earlier data from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission revealed.

The research institute also predicted that the sector will register profit growth of around 6 percent in 2022, reflecting stable asset quality and strong risk-offset ability.

Global Times