| Governor Chen | ||||||
"I personally spend 80% of my time working on the NPL problem," says Chen Yuan, governor of the China Development Bank. "I drive everyone crazy about them. They occupy my mind seven days a week." The assistant governor, JP Zhao, jumps in and quickly points out: "I think he even dreams about them."
Chen is one of the new breed of bankers in China who actually care where their institutions' money is going.
Since Chen joined the CDB in 1998 the level of non-performing loans in the bank has been slashed by nearly 24%. They now stand at 8.78%. That, by any banks' standards', is pretty impressive. It's even more remarkable when talking about a Chinese state-owned policy bank - one that operates under the watchful eye of the state development&planning committee, the state economic&trade commission, and the finance ministry, and that channels funds into large state-driven projects.