Jun 15, 2017
China watchers have long predicted the imminent collapse of
China’s banking system. Between increased reliance on unstable
funding sources, and an expanding credit to GDP gap, experts’
concerns are not unwarranted. Yet the collapse has not happened. In
China’s Banking Transformation: The Untold Story, former
banking director James Stent looks at what the experts have been
missing, and why their predictions have not materialized. On June
5, 2017, Mr. Stent joined National Committee President Stephen
Orlins for a discussion of his book, his views on the Chinese
banking sector, and what they mean for our understanding of China’s
political economy overall.
Challenging the mainstream consensus on China’s banking system, Mr.
Stent argues Chinese banks are hybrid organizations, which
simultaneously respond to shareholder interests and the demands of
party-defined economic goals. Understanding how Chinese banking has
transformed since the early 1990s requires looking at China’s banks
in the context of how the country’s political economy works, and at
the continuing influence of China’s traditional culture on its
contemporary institutions.
Drawing on his experience working inside two of China’s top banks,
Mr. Stent examines some of the key strengths of China’s banking
system, and explains the unique political and cultural factors that
must be considered in assessing the success of Chinese banks.
Bio:
James Stent has pursued a career in financial services in Thailand
and China. Beginning in 2006, he served for six years as an
independent director and chairman of the audit committee of the
China Everbright Bank, followed by four years as a member of the
bank’s Board of Supervisors. From 2003 to 2006 he was an
independent director on the board of the China Minsheng Bank in
Beijing. He is presently an independent director and chairman of
the audit committee of the XacBank of Mongolia.
Mr. Stent worked for 18 years in Bangkok at Bank of Asia, a Thai
bank, serving as deputy president of the bank until his retirement
in 2002, continuing thereafter as a director of the bank until
2004. Jim began his banking career with Citibank, working in New
York, Manila, and Hong Kong. He then joined Crocker National Bank,
working in San Francisco, Hong Kong and Bangkok, before moving to
the Bank of Asia.
In addition to his banking career, Mr. Stent also has experience in
cultural heritage protection and tourism development. He is
chairman of the steering committee of the Siamese Heritage Trust,
and previously served as director of the Raks Thai Foundation and
as a council member and honorary treasurer of the Siam Society. He
also served for three years as the CEO of WildChina, a Chinese
travel firm specializing in cultural and ecological tourism.
Mr. Stent grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and received a
bachelor’s degree in history at the University of California,
Berkeley, and a master’s of public affairs degree from the Woodrow
Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton
University, where he focused on development economics. He speaks
and reads Chinese and Thai.