Financial leasing, auto finance firms allowed to issue bonds

Sep. 1, 2009 (China Knowledge) - China will allow qualified financial leasing firms and auto finance companies to issue financial bonds, according to a joint statement released by the People's Bank of China and the China Banking Regulatory Commission yesterday.

The statement took effect upon its announcement.

Issuing financial bonds will help financial leasing firms strengthen their support for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises and will help auto finance firms boost their auto consumer credit business, thus expanding domestic auto consumption, according to the statement.

Financial leasing firms that want to sell bonds should have a minimum registered capital of RMB 500 million, while auto finance companies should have a minimum registered capital of RMB 800 million.

At the end of July, China had 12 financial leasing firms with total combined assets of RMB 108.1 billion and ten auto finance firms with total combined assets of RMB 37.8 billion.