The interest rate marketization in western developed countries first started from European countries such as Britain, Germany and France, and they completed the marketization of deposit and loan interest rates in the 1970s. Then, starting from 1980, the United States lifted the ceiling of deposit interest rate by stages, marked by 1986+0, and the United States achieved complete interest rate marketization. Subsequently, Canada and other countries also cancelled various interest rate restrictions. Japan gradually relaxed interest rate restrictions from 1984. At present, the Bank of Japan's interest rate restrictions on loans and large deposits have basically disappeared, and the interest rate restrictions on small deposits will also be lifted in the last two years.
1. interest rate liberalization in the United States
The interest rate control in the United States began with the economic crisis in the 1930s and appeared in the form of legal provisions. 1933 in may, the us congress passed the 1933 banking law. Clause Q of the Banking Law (commonly known as Clause Q) stipulates that member banks are prohibited from paying interest on demand deposits, and the upper limit of interest rates on time deposits and savings deposits is restricted. 1935 deposit interest rate restriction law amended clause q, making the maximum deposit interest rate applicable not only to federal member banks, but also to non-member banks. 1966 extends its application scope to non-bank financial institutions (although the upper limit of deposit interest rate is 0.25% higher than that of commercial banks). The purpose of setting the upper limit of deposit interest rate is to prevent financial institutions from raising interest rates in order to compete for deposits, which will lead to high cost of absorbing deposits, affect economic development and endanger bank safety. This system of controlling interest rates remained basically unchanged until the mid-1960s. Since the late 1960s, interest rates in financial markets have been rising due to persistent inflation. For example, in the mid-1960s, the interest rate of national debt was always below 5%, but it reached 7% at 1973- 1974, and even reached 16% for some time afterwards. The rise of market interest rate widens the gap between it and bank deposit interest rate, but because of the existence of Q clause, deposit financial institutions can't increase deposits by changing interest rates, which eventually leads to the phenomenon of "disintermediation" (in the United States, 1966, 1969,1973-1974,669) In order to survive and develop, fierce competition has been launched among deposit financial institutions, and financial innovations have emerged that bypass financial control, such as large negotiable certificates of deposit, repurchase agreements and other financial instruments. New financial instruments often have the characteristics of high interest rate and strong liquidity, which makes commercial banks and non-bank deposit financial institutions attract a lot of funds from the money market. In 1970s, banks and non-bank deposit financial institutions generally diversified their investments, trying to adapt to the pressure of rising market interest rates. All this has brought new problems to the interest rate control in the United States, and the undercurrent of interest rate deregulation has been surging.
In order to cope with this change,1June 1970, US President Nixon approved the establishment of the Presidential Commission on Financial Structure and Supervision, and appointed Read O.Hunt as the chairman of the Commission. 197 165438 In February, the committee put forward the famous "Hunter Committee Report", the core of which was to emphasize that free competition of financial institutions can bring the most efficient allocation of funds, advocate deregulation and encourage financial liberalization. In terms of interest rate marketization, the Committee suggested that the interest rate ceiling for time deposits and certificates of deposit of more than US$ 654.38+million be abolished. For the above deposits below $6,543,800, the Federal Reserve will decide whether to set the interest rate ceiling according to the economic and financial situation, but it will also be cancelled after 654.38+ 00 years. 1In August, 973, the President of the United States pointed out in his speech on the reform of the financial system submitted to Congress that the upper limit of deposit interest rate was obviously harmful to depositors and deposit institutions. Because the upper limit of deposit interest rate is much lower than the market interest rate, small depositors who rely on deposit financial institutions do not enjoy the benefits of high market interest rate, but suffer from high inflation; For deposit-taking financial institutions, due to the reduction of deposit sources, the available funds of SMEs will drop sharply. On the other hand, in order to win over depositors, deposit financial institutions have to use some means to make up for the disadvantages brought by the interest rate ceiling, such as providing free services and giving gifts, which will inevitably increase the operating costs of deposit financial institutions. In the subsequent 1973 Law on Financial Institutions, it was proposed to cancel the interest rate ceiling of time deposits and savings deposits in stages within five and a half years. 1976 In February, the financial reform bill 1976 drafted by the US House of Representatives reiterated this policy proposition: the Q clause should be abolished in stages within five years.
In the 1980s, the Bank Law 1980 was passed. It is considered to be the most important banking legislation in the United States for half a century. According to the law, from March 3 1, 1980, the maximum interest rate of time deposits and savings deposits will be phased out in six years (that is, the Q clause will be cancelled). Therefore, a special deregulation committee for deposit institutions was set up to set the highest deposit interest rate and gradually relax it until it was finally abolished. During the period of 1982, the deregulation committee of deposit institutions made two important decisions: ① Starting from 1982 and 14, deposit institutions were allowed to provide a money market account with no interest rate ceiling, and depositors were allowed to write three checks and make three automatic transfers every month. ② Depository institutions are allowed to issue super transferable payment instructions for individuals from 1983 65438+ 10/5. This kind of account, like a negotiable payment order, can be used as a trading medium, but there is no highest interest rate.
The lifting of interest rate restrictions has also brought some side effects. The lifting of interest rate restrictions in the United States is a catalyst for accelerating the collapse of commercial banks. Since the federal government lifted interest rate restrictions in the late 1970s, commercial banks have been free to compete and interest rates have remained high for a long time. Attracted by high interest rates, many financial institutions, such as insurance companies and securities brokerage companies, which originally had no credit business, provided loans to related enterprises one after another, which not only made small financial institutions protected by the government more and more threatened by large financial institutions, but also threatened by non-financial institutions. In addition, some commercial banks are deeply involved in the merger wave prevailing in the United States. Many companies borrowed heavily to merge with other companies. Once the merged industry falls into recession, these heavily indebted companies will also bring down the banks that issue loans.
2. Interest rate liberalization in Britain
In Britain, Keynes's hometown, the policy role of interest rate has attracted much attention. Britain chose a low interest rate level in its policy orientation to reduce the burden of interest payment on national debt. In terms of interest rate management, there is no specific regulation in Britain to control interest rates. All clearing banks implement the cartel system-the agreed interest rate system, that is, the deposit and loan interest rates of commercial banks are determined according to the interest rate of the Bank of England. This is actually an indirect interest rate control that uses the interest rate of the central bank to limit the interest rate level of commercial banks. Interest rate management in Britain can be called "benchmark interest rate guidance system", and its main tool is rediscount interest rate, which has a strong binding force on the interest rates of commercial banks.
Due to the low interest rate policy adopted by Britain, it is inevitable that deposits flee from clearing banks, the amount of deposits continues to decline, and the central bank's ability to regulate and control is weakened. In order to change this situation, the British financial authorities have to constantly raise the rediscount rate. 197 1 year, the Bank of England promulgated the Competition and Credit Control Act, which completely abolished the cartel system of clearing banks. The interest rates of commercial banks are no longer linked to the discount rate of the Bank of England, and they can change the interest rates according to their own needs. Allow clearing banks to directly participate in the interbank deposit and loan market, so that banks can carry out short-term capital financing; Allow clearing banks to enter the CD market. Thus, the steps of financial liberalization and interest rate marketization have been taken. 1972 10, the Bank of England canceled the discount rate and changed it to the "lowest lending rate", that is, the interest rate used by the Bank of England as the "lender of last resort" in the money market. The minimum loan interest rate is published once a month, but it is not used as the basis for other interest rate changes. But it will have a decisive impact on the short-term interest rate, which is related to the average interest rate formed by the weekly tender of national debt. After the cancellation of the inter-bank agreement interest rate, the clearing bank introduced the basic loan interest rate as a common standard, which was linked to the lowest loan interest rate of the Bank of England. 1981August, Britain announced that it would cancel the practice of publishing the minimum loan interest rate. In this way, British commercial banks no longer adjust the deposit and loan interest rates according to the official minimum interest rate, but mainly according to the relationship between supply and demand of market funds, and the basic loan interest rate began to be linked to the market interest rate, changing once a month on average. However, the Bank of England reserves the right to intervene when necessary, that is, to make suggestions on interest rates and set bank interest rates, which still controls the changes of market interest rates. After the marketization of interest rates in Britain, some new situations have emerged in the financial industry: First, the number of financial instruments has increased, such as the introduction of negotiable certificates of deposit. Second, competition among financial institutions has intensified, and interest rate competition has intensified. Third, the instability of the financial system has increased. High interest rates, coupled with the depression of the world economy, such as the oil shock, have led to business crises in many small and medium-sized financial institutions.
3. Germany's interest rate marketization
The interest rate control in Germany began at 1932. Since that year, the Imperial Bank of Germany has set the upper limit of deposit and loan interest rates. After World War II, things began to change. 1953, the federal government promulgated the capital transaction law, which abolished the interest rate restrictions in the bond market, thus beginning to impact the restrictions on bank deposit and loan interest rates; After entering the 1960s, on the one hand, due to the abolition of foreign exchange control in western industrial countries, international capital flows became more and more frequent, and German funds turned to European money markets in order to seek high interest rates; On the other hand, because there is no interest rate limit in the bond market and it is higher than the bank interest rate, bank deposits also flow to the bond market. Therefore, in order to prevent the outflow of deposits, banks try to evade interest rate control and provide preferential conditions for deposits, thus forming a de facto high interest rate. In such a financial environment, the voice of canceling interest rate control and implementing interest rate marketization is getting higher and higher. Finally, in February of 1962, the federal government adjusted the object of interest rate restriction according to the new credit system law, and took the first step of interest rate marketization. In July, 1966, the interest rate limit was lifted for large deposits of more than three and a half months. 1976 In February, the federal government proposed to cancel the interest rate restriction. In April of the same year, with the consent of the federal bank, the interest rate control was completely relaxed, ending the era of interest rate control. After the marketization of interest rates in Germany, the time loan interest rate is linked to the market interest rate, which changes frequently, basically reflecting the change of market interest rate, and the savings deposit interest rate is relatively stable.
4. France's interest rate marketization
Interest rate control in France began during the Nazi occupation 194 1. After World War II, in order to restore the national economy, France adopted a credit control policy, and the National Credit Committee stipulated the minimum amount of bank loans and the maximum amount of deposits. At the end of 1960s, France began the financial reform characterized by interest rate marketization, and gradually liberalized the deposit interest rate to enhance the ability of banks to absorb funds. 1April, 965, the upper limit of interest rate for time deposits with a term of more than 6 years was cancelled; In July 1967, the interest rate limit for deposits of more than two years and more than 250,000 francs was lifted; 1969, 1976 and 1979 modified the restrictions on deposit interest rates three times. By the end of 1970s, the interest rate of time deposits within 6 months or 1 year and below 500,000 francs was capped. Since February 1984, banks have been allowed to issue certificates of deposit with free interest rates, further promoting the marketization of interest rates.
5. Japan's interest rate marketization
Japan's interest rate control began at 1947. At that time, Japan promulgated the Law on Temporary Adjustment of Interest Rates, which stipulated that the government had the right to determine the highest deposit and loan interest rates of national banks, which were set by the Bank of Japan and announced by the Ministry of Finance. The purpose of the bill is to deal with the economic panic in the early days after World War II and prevent interest rates from soaring. Since then, in order to support economic development, the Japanese government has always adopted an artificially low interest rate policy, and interest rate control is also to ensure the implementation of the low interest rate policy.
According to the Law on Temporary Adjustment of Interest Rates, the Bank of Japan adjusts the maximum deposit interest rate as needed, which all financial institutions must abide by and not violate. At the same time, it also implements grading guidance interest rates for different deposit methods. It also stipulates the maximum interest rate for short-term loans. The interest rate of financial bonds is set by the issuing bank, but it can only be implemented after being approved by the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Japan. The interest rate of government bonds is determined by the Ministry of Finance, and the interest rate of corporate bonds is consistent with that of government bonds. Except for the secondary securities market interest rate, other interest rates are limited.
At the end of 1970s, Japan began to reform interest rate marketization, and the breakthrough was the marketization of securities interest rate. During the period of interest rate control, the interest rate in the secondary market of securities is also freely priced. This causes the interest rate of securities to be higher than the interest rate of bank deposits, and funds flow to the securities market, reducing the source of funds for banks and reducing the demand for bank loans by enterprises. These two aspects make the bank have to lower the loan interest rate, which leads to the continuous narrowing of the deposit-loan spread, which leads to the decline of the bank's income and the difficulty in operation. Therefore, in 1977, the Japanese government allowed the national debt to be listed and circulated, and in the following year, it adopted the method of issuing national debt by bidding to promote the marketization of medium and long-term interest rates. After June 1978, the Bank of Japan gradually lifted the interest rate control on the inter-bank capital market (including short-term lending market, bill market and foreign exchange market), so that the inter-bank capital exchange was no longer restricted by the interest rate ceiling. From 65438 to 0979, Japan liberalized the market interest rate of large negotiable certificates of deposit (CD) of banks and began the marketization of short-term interest rates. Since then, Japanese interest rates have become more frequent. 1In May 1984, the Japanese government published "The Present Situation and Prospect of Japanese Yen's Financial Marketization and Internationalization", in which it made arrangements for interest rate marketization. It is planned to finally cancel the interest rate restrictions on transferable large deposit certificates, ultra-large deposit certificates and floating interest rate deposits by 1987, and fully realize marketization; After that, the interest rate restrictions on small deposits will be gradually lifted. This indicates that Japan's deposit and loan interest rates have also begun to develop towards marketization. But "this process is not completely liberalized-it just means a little flexibility." 199 1 year fixed deposit interest rate marketization was basically completed, 1994, 10/0 Japan fully realized interest rate marketization.