Shaanxi may create joint-stock bank

Municipal lenders in the Shaanxi province will form their own joint-stock bank if the central government continues to ignore pleas for a western or northwestern regional bank, the South China Morning Post reported. Li Xiaodong, director of the Shaanxi Provincial Development and Reform Commission, said that Xian, Baoji and Xianying city commercial banks would be integrated with Weinan Urban Credit Cooperative to form the new joint-stock bank. �We have been applying to the central government ever since the Go West campaign was launched but the country’s control over the set-up of such a bank remains tight,� said Li. �[It may be] easier and more feasible to restructure existing banks than to have a new one approved.�