Recruiting in China

BEIJING -(Dow Jones)- China's banking regulator Wednesday issued official guidelines aimed at strengthening Chinese banks' compliance risk-management in a move seen as helping them combat increasing competition from foreign banks.

The guidelines ask the country's banks to adopt better compliance risk- management practices, to boost their risk-management systems and corporate governance, the China Banking Regulatory Commission said in statements posted on its Web site.

The new policies are aimed at bringing China's banks into line with global practices. Foreign banks will be able to carry out a full range of local- currency services starting Dec. 11 as part of China's World Trade Organization commitments.

The guidelines - a draft of which was first reported by Dow Jones Newswires last week - are effective immediately. They apply to Chinese commercial banks, foreign banks and their branches operating in China, the CBRC said.

Other financial institutions such as policy banks, fund asset management companies and trust cooperatives aren't required to abide by the guidelines, but should take them as references, it said.

Banks are required to set up a sound compliance system, and the top management should file a compliance risk-management report to the board of directors annually, it said.

The compliance practice should receive regular checks from independent internal audit department, and banks should submit their compliance management plans and assessment report to the CBRC in a timely manner, it said.