diversification of risk
Diversification of risks refers to the possibility that commercial banks diversify the value loss of various assets by holding assets of different types and currencies, so as to preserve the value of total assets or reduce losses. Diversification of risks is the most commonly used strategy for commercial banks to effectively control risks. "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" is a popular expression of this strategy. Generally speaking, commercial banks should diversify their business risks from three aspects.
1. Diversification of business operations. Commercial banks should not only engage in deposit and loan business, but also engage in securities business and non-bank financial business.
In the loan business, there can be industrial and commercial and agricultural loans, real estate loans and consumer credit loans; In the securities business, you can trade treasury bills and financial bonds, and you can also trade bonds and bills of enterprises; In non-bank financial business, there can be trust, insurance, leasing, real estate and so on. Diversification of business and its reasonable structure can not only disperse risks, but also balance different risks in different businesses, thus making the income of commercial banks tend to be stable. At present, some international and domestic commercial banks have opened new services for customers in order to provide them with all-round financial services. The innovation of financial business has promoted the reform of financial management system, broken various restrictions of traditional financial business, and expanded financial liberalization to depth and breadth. Realizing financial liberalization, interest rate liberalization and financial market liberalization can largely disperse the operational risks of commercial banks.
2. Restrict lending. Article 39 of the Commercial Bank Law stipulates: "The ratio of the loan balance to the capital balance of commercial banks for the same borrower shall not exceed 10%, which is actually a restriction on the loan structure of commercial banks. In order to prevent loans from being too concentrated and spreading risks, it is necessary to control loans to the same borrower, and not to put too much money on the same borrower to limit risks, that is to say, to lend the funds of commercial banks to many customers to realize risks.
3. Joint lending. For large loans, joint loans or participation in loans are adopted, so that the risks of loans are shared by several commercial banks, and once loans are lost, all commercial banks can bear them. At present, the most widely used form of joint loan in China is syndicated loan, that is, many commercial banks approved to operate loan business adopt the same loan agreement and provide funds to the same borrower according to the agreed period and conditions. Syndicated loans are suitable for medium and long-term and short-term loans that meet the loan conditions and have a large amount, as well as foreign currency loans mainly in RMB. The loan targets are mainly large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises, enterprise groups and key construction projects planned by the state. Loans are issued in the form of "total amount confirmation and sharing among members", and the sharing amount of syndicated loans is based on the principle of "voluntary loan confirmation and negotiation".
(2) Reduce risks
Commercial banks minimize operating losses by operating in compliance with laws and regulations, which is called reducing risks. Generally speaking, the following measures can reduce the operational risk of commercial banks:
1. Improve the operation mechanism and strengthen management. Commercial banks are special enterprises that operate monetary funds and provide services for social financing. In terms of organizational system, all commercial banks act as enterprise legal persons, and all branches conduct business within the scope authorized by the head office. Under this unified and highly decentralized organizational structure, improving the operating mechanism and strengthening management are important measures that every commercial bank must implement. First of all, in terms of capital operation, we should gradually improve and implement asset-liability ratio management. Article 39 of the Commercial Bank Law requires that the operation of commercial banks must comply with a series of regulations on the management of debt ratio. This kind of management is not a general business management, but an internal self-discipline management mechanism. It can effectively restrain load management and avoid the business risk of bankruptcy caused by excessive debt. Secondly, in terms of business supervision, it is necessary to establish and improve a set of supervision and guarantee system independent of business operation, so that it can operate according to certain laws. This system should include vertical supervision and horizontal supervision. Vertical supervision includes the establishment of internal supervision and control, business audit, administrative supervision and inner-party discipline inspection systems. The key is to have a sound and powerful internal control organization system and give full play to the functions of the internal control system. Horizontal supervision includes the working procedures of mutual supervision and restriction between relevant departments and posts. Every key link of various business operations should be strictly monitored, incompatible positions should be controlled separately, and the whole business process should be brought into strict internal control mechanism, which effectively guarantees the operating results of commercial banks. Finally, in the aspect of employee education, we should do a good job in the education of employees' thoughts, ethics, laws and regulations, so that employees can understand the necessity of implementing the system, the importance of strictly observing the system and the harm of not implementing and correcting violations according to the system, and enhance employees' awareness of law-abiding and self-protection, so as to prevent the occurrence of various internal cases and ensure that commercial banks avoid unnecessary losses.
2. Strengthen credit management in combination with national policies. Credit work is the most important business of commercial banks, and good credit management is a necessary prerequisite to prevent the bankruptcy of commercial banks. In the current new round of enterprise restructuring and financial reform, to do a good job in credit management, we must do the following: First, we must break the identity discrimination of ownership. To get rid of the traditional ownership-based capital supply decision, commercial banks should vigorously support their products, regardless of the nature of enterprise ownership and management mode, as long as there is a market, a promising future, good economic benefits and high credit. The second is to optimize the existing customers. Based on the principle of selecting the best to help the strong, we will clarify the basic customer standards, actively expand new customers, focus on supporting enterprises and enterprise groups with standardized restructuring, good reputation and development potential, increase the proportion of outstanding customers such as mixed ownership, foreign-funded enterprises and private enterprises, gradually clear out bad enterprises and terminate credit relations. Third, it is necessary to adjust the credit investment in a timely manner and focus on supporting enterprises that implement capital restructuring. The purpose of capital reorganization of state-owned enterprises is to adjust the capital structure, optimize the allocation of resources and invigorate the state-owned economy. Therefore, commercial banks should adjust the investment of credit funds in a timely manner, and give key support to enterprises with standardized capital reorganization, perfect internal organizational system and rapid improvement of economic benefits. The fourth is to develop new credit instruments. According to the needs of enterprises with different ownership, different business forms and different scales, explore new financing methods such as "shareholder-guaranteed loan", "commercial paper discount loan", "buyer-seller credit" and "conditional loan".
3. Adjust business strategy and reform business organization. Judging from the current situation and trend of economic development and reform, China's economic system reform has been further strengthened after the 15th National Congress, and all-round and multi-form enterprise reform has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. The concrete manifestations are: (1) the diversification of public ownership; Strategic adjustment of state-owned enterprises; With capital as the link, a large-scale enterprise group with strong competitiveness will be formed through the market with cross-regional, cross-industry, cross-ownership and transnational operation; Take the form of reorganization, union, merger, leasing, contracting operation, joint-stock cooperative system and sale to speed up the opening and invigorating of small state-owned enterprises; We will continue to encourage, guide and develop the individual and private non-public sectors of the economy. The implementation of these measures, on the one hand, brings new opportunities to China's commercial banks, on the other hand, it also poses new challenges to commercial banks. This requires commercial banks to actively adjust their business strategies and strive to reduce business risks, which is mainly reflected in adjusting the business strategies of emerging businesses. Compared with traditional deposit, loan and settlement business, emerging business refers to real estate finance, international finance and investment banking business, as well as all kinds of guarantee business, loan or investment commitment business, innovative financial instruments provided by commercial banks, and intermediaries and services provided to customers by using human resources and technical equipment of commercial banks. With the characteristics of extensive business, low risk and stable income, it is favored by commercial banks. Judging from the trend of China's economic and financial reform and development, the development space of traditional asset-liability business of commercial banks will gradually shrink. Under this condition, it is far from enough for commercial banks to achieve development only by operating traditional asset-liability business, and they must seek new development space. Internationally, commercial banks in western countries mostly focus on emerging businesses, and 50%-60% of their total revenue comes from intermediary businesses. Judging from the situation of China's commercial banks, although some efforts have been made in developing emerging businesses, there is still a big gap compared with the socio-economic development process. Therefore, it is urgent to take effective measures to adjust the business strategy of commercial banks and set up development departments focusing on emerging businesses to ensure the sustained, stable and healthy development of commercial banks in China.
(3) Transfer risks
Risk transfer means that commercial banks transfer their business risks to other financial institutions through a certain mode of operation to maximize their ability to resist risks. Transferring risks is a common way for modern commercial banks to avoid operational risks. China's commercial banks generally take the following measures when transferring business:
1. Transfer risky assets held by commercial banks. For example, if the long-term interest rate is expected to rise, commercial banks can transfer their long-term securities to avoid the risk of falling securities prices caused by rising interest rates.
2. Insure various deposits of different degrees and types. When commercial banks are unable to pay off their debts to depositors due to operating losses, they can transfer all the deposit payment risks of commercial banks to insurance companies through the deposit insurance system.
3. Use the forward foreign exchange market and financial futures market for hedging transactions. By adjusting the structure of assets and liabilities in the swap market, commercial banks can transfer risks to their business competitors to ensure their own safety.
4. Replace non-performing loans and improve asset structure. Four financial asset management companies, Huarong, Great Wall, Dongfang and Cinda, were established in China, replacing some non-performing loans of four commercial banks, namely, industry, agriculture, China and China Construction, which greatly improved the asset structure of these commercial banks, enabling them to take off their burdens and go into battle lightly, which is conducive to their better participation in market competition and maximizing their operational capabilities.