First, the origin of the four major financial asset management companies in China Since the 1990s, especially after the Asian financial crisis, governments around the world have generally attached great importance to the problem of non-performing assets of financial institutions. China's state-owned commercial banks are an important part of the financial system and one of the main channels for raising, financing and distributing social funds, which have provided strong support for economic development for a long time. However, before the promulgation of 1995 Banking Law, the state-owned banks operated in the mode of specialized banks, and the credit business had a strong policy color. In addition, due to the overheating of the economy in the early 1990s and the lack of effective internal mechanism and good external environment to control the quality of loans, a certain scale of non-performing loans has emerged. In addition, before 1993, the bank had never withdrawn bad debt reserve and never written off bad debts in bad debt losses. In this way, non-performing loans continue to accumulate, and financial risks are gradually gestating, which has become a major hidden danger in economic operation. If it is delayed for a long time, it may endanger the financial order and social stability, and affect the next development and reform process of China. In view of the above situation, on the basis of careful analysis of domestic financial problems and drawing lessons from foreign experience, the Chinese government decided to set up a financial asset management company to centrally manage and dispose of non-performing loans acquired from commercial banks, with China Xinda Asset Management Company as the pilot. The establishment of a financial asset management company is an important measure in the reform of China's financial system, which is of great significance to dispose of the non-performing assets of state-owned commercial banks according to law, prevent and resolve financial risks, promote state-owned banks to go into battle lightly, promote state-owned enterprises to turn losses into difficulties and restructure and develop, and realize the strategic restructuring of the state-owned economy.
1999, on the basis of drawing lessons from international experience, the State Council successively established four AMCs, namely Dongfang, Xinda, Huarong and Great Wall, and stipulated their duration as 10 year, which was responsible for purchasing, managing and disposing the corresponding non-performing assets divested by China Bank, China Construction Bank, China National Development Bank, China Industrial and Commercial Bank and China Agricultural Bank. At the beginning of its establishment, except for Cinda, the other three companies were temporarily transferred from the corresponding state-owned banks.
Second, the functional orientation, nature and operation mode of financial asset management companies Financial asset management companies are financial intermediaries specially used to clean up non-performing assets of banks. Because banks will encounter difficulties such as legal restrictions, lack of professional and technical knowledge, insufficient management ability and insufficient information sources, it is necessary to set up a financial asset management company composed of relevant personnel and with certain administrative power to specifically clean up non-performing assets. Financial asset management companies are usually set up by the government when banks are in crisis, not for profit. Save the financial industry and rebuild public confidence in the banking system by carefully purchasing assets, effectively managing assets and disposing of non-performing assets, and injecting funds into the banking system; By using effective asset management and asset realization strategies, we can recover as much value as possible from the bad assets of bankrupt banks; On the premise of minimizing the use of government funds, the financial industry can realize capital restructuring and reduce the impact and negative impact of bank restructuring on the whole society. Supervision department of financial asset management companies: CBRC is responsible for the supervision of companies, involving financial business beyond the supervision scope of relevant business authorities such as CBRC and CSRC, while Ministry of Finance is responsible for the financial supervision of the operation mode of financial asset management companies in China:
1. Policy guarantee is the prerequisite for the operation of financial asset management companies. Since the non-performing loans of the four major state-owned commercial banks mainly come from state-owned enterprises, the original intention of the establishment is to acquire the non-performing loans of state-owned banks and manage and dispose of the assets formed by the acquisition of non-performing loans of state-owned banks. The scope and amount of the acquisition shall be approved by the State Council, and the capital shall be uniformly allocated by the Ministry of Finance. Its operational goal is to maximize the preservation of assets and reduce losses. Because the financial asset management company was established during the transition from a planned economy to a market economy, the acquisition of non-performing assets took a policy approach. In the disposal, the state gives financial asset management companies a series of preferential policies such as tax reduction and exemption in their business activities. This powerful policy guarantee measure has become an effective prerequisite for financial asset management companies to play their business functions and resource allocation mechanisms.
2. Market-oriented operation is a means for financial asset management companies to operate. The specific ways for financial asset management companies to dispose of non-performing assets include: acquiring and operating non-performing assets stripped by banks; Debt recovery, asset replacement, transfer and sale; Debt restructuring and enterprise restructuring; Debt-to-equity swap, phased shareholding and asset securitization; Listing recommendation and bond and stock underwriting within the scope of asset management; Guarantees within the scope of asset management; Direct investment; Issuing bonds and commercial loans; Borrow from financial institutions and apply to the People's Bank of China for refinancing; Investment, financial and legal advice and consultants; Assets and project evaluation; Enterprise audit and bankruptcy liquidation; Other businesses approved by the financial supervision department.
3. Paradox between policy guarantee and market-oriented operation Policy guarantee is the premise of the operation of financial asset management companies. As a special financial enterprise, financial asset management companies need to coordinate the interests of multiple parties in resolving financial risks, paying attention to social stability and maintaining and increasing the value of state-owned assets as much as possible, especially when facing the interests of stakeholders in the process of disposing non-performing loans. Therefore, to some extent, it is only the need for financial asset management companies to deal with the balance of multi-stakeholders in their operations, and it cannot and should not be used as a constraint to the development of their own market-oriented mechanism in actual operation. Financial asset management companies should give full play to their leading role as independent intermediaries in comprehensively coordinating social resources and balance the interests of stakeholders as much as possible in their own market-oriented operation mode. However, policy guarantee is to help financial asset management companies provide institutional arrangements in the initial establishment, process supervision and continuation under the background of imperfect market economy in China. The state has given this innovative institution a fairly relaxed development space in terms of its organizational form and operating authority. From this point of view, financial asset management companies themselves must actively grasp how to combine business innovation with system innovation in actual operation, and consider the development model and sustainable management ability of enterprises together. Only when financial asset management companies explore and form their own operation mode and style in practical work can they truly win a place in market-oriented competition. Naturally, the biggest challenge faced by financial asset management companies at present mainly comes from the imperfection of the legal system environment in actual operation, such as the provisions on the legal person's right of independent disposal in related matters, the way of equity transfer and capital cooperation, the evaluation in asset disposal, tax incentives and so on. It needs to be further strengthened, and specific measures for opening up and foreign investment cooperation should also have clear rules to follow. Fundamentally speaking, the purpose of policy guarantee is to create a relatively relaxed environment for the market-oriented operation of financial asset management companies, and to ensure that enterprises are truly in an effective market competition atmosphere with perfect institutional measures. Obviously, there is a certain paradox between them.
Three. Current situation and development direction of financial asset management companies At the beginning of 2004, the state defined the direction of reform and development of financial asset management companies, that is, establishing a target responsibility system for purchasing non-performing assets by policy, allowing asset management companies to make commercial acquisitions and accept entrusted agents to dispose of non-performing assets, and taking the road of marketization and commercialization. In April 2004, the Ministry of Finance issued the market access policy for three new businesses of financial asset management companies: commercial acquisition business, principal-agent business and investment business, which provided policy basis for asset management companies to engage in commercial business. In September, 2004, Huarong Company took the lead in obtaining commercial acquisition of non-performing assets, entrusting agents to dispose of non-performing assets and adding some non-performing assets. Commercial business is in full swing.
(1) Speeding up the disposal: the objective requirement of "Popsicle effect" and the possibility of parabola law "Regulations on the Administration of Financial Asset Management Companies" tentatively stipulates that the duration of a financial asset management company is ten years, but due to the "Popsicle effect" of non-performing assets, that is, the non-performing assets continue to depreciate at an accelerated pace with time. Financial asset management company was established in 1999 only five years ago, and the state has made it clear that creditor's rights assets must be disposed of before 2006. Therefore, if assets are recovered to the maximum extent and losses are reduced, disposal must be accelerated in the last three years. From the law of asset disposal, the amount of recovered cash flow will show a parabolic shape with the passage of time. In other words, in the first few years of disposal, with the increase of business experience, the amount of cash flow recovery will gradually increase; However, with the passage of time, the high-value assets that are easy to dispose of and dispose of will gradually decrease, and the difficulty of asset disposal will gradually increase; When the cash flow recovery amount rises to the highest point, the parabola will turn around and show a sharp downward trend.
(II) Development direction: The path selection of financial holding companies From a practical point of view, China's financial asset management companies have not only completed the establishment of institutions and the acquisition of non-performing assets in a short time, but also the progress of asset disposal is faster than that considered in the company's scheme design, and due to the requirement of speeding up the disposal, they are faced with the problem of how to develop a financial asset management company in the future. There are three views on the future development direction of financial asset management companies:
1. Liquidation cancellation considers that the mission of China's financial asset management companies is to resolve financial risks and must dispose of the received non-performing assets as soon as possible. Therefore, the focus of enterprise management should be to take various effective means to realize assets quickly, giving priority to auction, discount realization and package sale, striving to complete the task of asset disposal in the shortest time, and then liquidate and cancel.
2. For a long time, people have always believed that China's financial asset management companies aim at preserving assets and reducing losses, so the strategic choice of business operation should be a professional extension of the asset preservation function of commercial banks, and there should be no rigid rules on the duration of the company, and there should be no annual cash flow in business plan management to avoid short-term behavior.
3. Differentiate the financial asset management companies that believe in China have a special mission, which is to gradually promote the reform and restructuring of state-owned enterprises while defusing financial risks. Therefore, the choice of business strategy should not be simple, but should be based on the scientific analysis and classification of non-performing assets, distinguish different properties of assets, and adopt corresponding stop-loss strategies and promotion strategies respectively. The above viewpoints are all reasonable from different angles and have corresponding theoretical, practical and policy basis, while the third viewpoint is the synthesis of the first two viewpoints. This paper holds that it is indeed an important measure to fundamentally resolve financial risks and a correct strategic choice to dispose of and realize bad debts as soon as possible. However, due to the weak management foundation of China's state-owned commercial banks and some special ways to divest non-performing assets of banks, the quality of non-performing assets received by China's financial asset management companies is quite different. If simple measures are taken to dispose and realize assets, it is difficult to achieve the goal of maximizing the value of assets. Of course, if we only consider avoiding the loss of immediate assets and only take measures of preservation and normal collection, it is essentially treating financial asset management companies as banks, which not only runs counter to the original intention of macro-decision, but may eventually lead to greater losses. From this perspective, the third option is a more positive and practical one. Considering the domestic and international economic and financial situation and market conditions, as well as the resource advantages, policy measures and long-term development needs of financial asset management companies, the core business orientation of China's financial asset management companies' business development is: taking asset disposal as the main line, taking improving economic benefits as the starting point, taking maximum recovery of funds, enhancing asset value and reducing losses as the fundamental goal, taking reform and innovation as the driving force, and focusing on debt restructuring and asset management. Constantly cultivate the market and gather talents, establish the position of market experts in asset restructuring and asset management, and gradually develop into a versatile financial holding company with investment banking and state-owned asset management functions as its main business.
Four. Commercial transformation of financial asset management companies The end of 2006 is the deadline stipulated by the Ministry of Finance to complete the policy creditor's rights disposal business, which will be an unusual year for the four major financial asset management companies. How to successfully transform before the deadline approaches can be said to be the key for financial asset management companies. It is understood that four financial asset management companies are actively commercializing the acquisition of non-performing assets. Whether this transformation is feasible remains to be studied and discussed. (1) There are hidden worries about the transformation mode of commercial acquisition and disposal of non-performing assets 1\ Financial asset management companies must consider the transformation of economic growth mode during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period. The Fifth Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee pointed out that changing the mode of economic growth is an important choice for China's sustained economic development. At present, controlling the growth rate of fixed assets investment has become the focus of national macro-control; Trade friction and RMB appreciation are worrying; Domestic demand has not increased rapidly. Under such macroeconomic conditions, asset management companies need to use their own capital carefully to purchase non-performing assets on a large scale; We must not let the "popsicle effect" spread, otherwise the national policy on the disposal of non-performing assets will lose its original intention. China's four major financial asset management companies: Dongfang, Cinda, Huarong and Great Wall.