When China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001 —— committing to open its then-struggling banking¹ sector² to full competition by 2007 —— skeptics predicted the country’s banks would be swamped by better-capitalized foreign institutions. 
　　This week, as leaders at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, debate the fiscal³ fitness of China’s banks, it appears the doomsayers have been wrong, or at least premature⁴. China has injected fresh capital into its biggest banks, set up corporate⁵ boards with independent directors and pushed them to list abroad. Foreign investors⁶ have responded by putting up more than $16 billion for pieces of Chinese banks.
　　Few foreign banks look poised⁷ to take on the daunting⁸ task of building a vast retail⁹-banking network of their own from scratch. At the end of October, the assets of foreign banks were just 2% of total banking assets in China.
　　Instead, foreign institutions are scrambling¹⁰ to invest in China’s banks. Chinese have poured 14 trillion yuan ($1.736 trillion) —— about 46% of the country’s gross domestic product —— into bank accounts each year. "As income levels rise, millions more people will become attractive banking clients," says David Marshall, Fitch Ratings’ head analyst¹¹ for banks and financial institutions in Asia. "That is drawing the attention of foreign banks."
　　The lure¹² for both domestic and foreign banks is China’s undeveloped consumer-finance market. The share of consumer loans among total loans grew to 11% from 5% between 2000 and 2004.
　　In its WTO commitments, China promised to allow foreign banks to tap into China’s local-currency retail-lending market and its 1.3 billion consumers at the end of 2006. Foreign banks will be able to issue yuan-denominated loans and accept yuan-denominated deposits from Chinese individuals. Currently, foreign banks are allowed to offer loans and accept deposits in foreign currency, and to provide yuan-denominated services to enterprises in 25 cities. But few foreign banks have built such a network with local-currency retail customers still off limits.

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