SHANGHAI: Total custodial assets of China’s banking industry surged last year as banks seek to expand the business and maintain profitability amid market-oriented interest rate reform.
At the end of 2014, the industry’s custodial assets stood at 54.12 trillion yuan (US$8.7 trillion), an increase of 54.7 percent from a year earlier, according to data released by the China Banking Association yesterday.
Asset custody business has thrived in China over the past few years, with the growth of banks’ custodial assets surging over 50 percent for three straight years, the association said in a report.
Chinese banks are developing intermediary businesses, such as asset custody services, to make a profit, rather than relying heavily on net interest margin, which is shrinking as interest rates are increasingly liberalized.
Banks’ asset custody services include capital settlement, asset safekeeping and wealth management.
