Chinese banks may get new regulator

China is looking at creating a ministerial-level body that would oversee both state-owned banks and non-bank financial enterprises, a step that would tighten the government’s grip on creditors, Reuters reported, citing two unnamed sources. The new supervisor, which would outrank top bank executives in China’s political hierarchy, would help Beijing distribute the burden of managing the country’s numerous and sometimes unruly state-owned corporations. The proposal, which has yet to be approved by China’s cabinet, the State Council, comes amid growing concerns about local debt obligations. Some analysts are skeptical of the proposed entity’s effectiveness. “It’s one more layer of bureaucracy,” said Jim Antos, an analyst at Mizuho Securities Asia in Hong Kong. “It isn’t because of banks’ policy that we had excessive lending in 2009. It was because of the government’s policy.”