On May 9, 2002, the People's Bank of China issued Order [2002] No.5, which revised the Administrative Measures for Trust and Investment Companies again according to the Trust Law, the People's Bank of China Law and other relevant provisions of the State Council. Compared with the original "Administrative Measures for Trust and Investment Companies", its contents have undergone major adjustments in the operability of trust and investment companies' business development, so that trust and investment companies can initiate the establishment of investment funds and new trust businesses.
According to the relevant provisions of the new Measures for the Administration of Trust and Investment Companies, trust and investment companies can directly engage in investment fund business as sponsors of investment funds without setting up a fund management company first. At the same time, trust and investment companies can design trust business varieties according to market demand, without reporting to the People's Bank of China for approval.
The Interim Measures for the Management of Fund Trust Business of Trust and Investment Companies was also officially released on June 13, 2002 and officially implemented on July 18, 2008, which further provided policy support for trust and investment companies to carry out fund pool trust business. So far, the policy platform for the standardized development of trust companies, which is constructed by the Trust Law, the new Measures for the Administration of Trust and Investment Companies and the Interim Measures for the Administration of Trust Business of Trust and Investment Companies, is becoming more and more perfect. Some "new ideas" conform to the development trend of trust industry.
Recently, a series of new ideas (hereinafter referred to as "new ideas") spread around the functional orientation and business development direction of trust companies have aroused strong reactions in the trust industry. The new viewpoint puts forward eight measures, involving the inherent business of trust companies, trust business, related transactions, capital, qualified investors, transfer of beneficial rights, the number of capital trust contracts and trust in different places. The core is to compress the inherent business, standardize the trust business and clean up the related transactions.
Some "new ideas" conform to the development trend of trust industry.
Regarding the inherent business, the new view requires trust companies to cancel interbank lending, loans and financial leasing within the existing business scope, and define the investment business scope as equity investment of financial companies, self-use fixed assets investment and short-term investment (including stock bonds, policy financial bonds, central bank bills, etc.). ), and in principle cancel industrial investment, fully guarantee the liquidity of assets.
Specifically, the trust and investment company can gradually reduce its inherent business through company separation, business divestiture and company reorganization, so as to meet the above requirements within a time limit. At the same time, trust companies may not handle any form of debt business such as deposits, fund lending, bond issuance and asset repurchase. Do not take deposits in the name of operating fund trusts or other businesses. Reduce the proportion of external guarantee and limit it to a certain proportion of net assets.
As for trust business, the new viewpoint requires that the scope of trust business be sorted out, which can be roughly divided into trust business and part-time business. Trust business is described by trust products, such as fund trust plan, enterprise annuity trust business, credit asset securitization, real estate trust, transaction management trust, etc. Part-time business includes investment banking and intermediary business such as mergers and acquisitions, financial consulting, investment consulting, securities underwriting and custody. A trust company may not use the trust property for loans and selling and repurchase business.
Restrict related party transactions-cancel bona fide association and prohibit reverse association. With regard to bona fide acquisition, a trust company shall not engage in the following acts when operating trust business: investing trust funds in its own or related party's securities; Trading trust property under different trust accounts; Transactions between inherent property and trust property; There shall be no transfer, advance or even mixing of funds between the trust and the inherent account or the special account for trust property without transaction background, agreement or contract.
With regard to reverse connection, that is, a trust company may not lend money to related parties with inherent property or trust property, may not transfer property, may not provide guarantee for related parties, may not accept the company's equity as pledge to provide financing, and may not accept the related party's equity as the beneficial right of trust property division.
With regard to the restrictions on trust shares, the new viewpoint also makes relevant provisions on canceling 200 restrictions, allowing off-site trust business, floating management of funds, qualified investors and transfer of beneficial rights. The abolition of 200 capital trust contracts and restrictions on trust business in different places conforms to the development trend of trust business after the financial sector is fully opened to the outside world.
"New ideas" make trust companies unable to find the north.
Zhang, Shanghai Investment Co., Ltd., has been paying close attention to the trust industry for many years, and constantly mentioned that the first bucket of gold in his career development benefited from trust. He has good expectations for the trust industry, and elaborated his own views on the above new viewpoints. He said that the essence of trust is design, and trust business has diversity. Is too many restrictions on trust business conducive to the survival and development of trust companies? The cancellation of interbank lending, loans and financial leasing will greatly reduce the financial nature of trust companies, and the rationality of restricting industrial investment for the purpose of ensuring asset liquidity is debatable.
It is ok to invest in industry with its own funds. Investing in industry does not mean that asset liquidity is poor, and the result of asset securitization can also ensure asset liquidity. Trust business must have diversity and liquidity. Its diversity is manifested in that besides the traditional fund trust, there are also enterprise annuity trust, real estate trust, transaction management trust, education trust, public welfare trust, offshore trust, industrial investment trust, investment and financial management, etc. The liquidity of trust products shows that circulation is the best precaution against risks, and only by strengthening circulation can we reduce risks and attract investors better. Therefore, how to design trust products to make them liquid?
Zhang said that there are broad and narrow distinctions between trust business and non-trust business. Who can say that the existing part-time job of a trust company is not a trust business? Restrictions on the transfer of beneficial rights hinder the development of trust business and lack legal basis. As far as related party transactions are concerned, it is not that related party transactions are not allowed, but that related party transactions must go through legal procedures, and two legal bases in the process of related party transactions should be clarified: first, the corporate governance structure under the Company Law; The second is the relevant provisions in the field of financial supervision.
Zhang believes that most trust investors in the United States are natural persons, and it is a trend for natural persons in China to become trust investors. What the trust company needs to do is risk warning and operate according to the agreement. Trust tools are mostly used by the rich, so there should be more risk awareness. Deliberately limiting the number of natural persons is not a way to prevent risks, but to find a balance between the development of trust companies and risk prevention.
He feels that for a long time, trust companies have been exploring the road of development and constantly playing games. As a result, they have been rectified five times and a series of strict supervision. Nowadays, the problem faced by trust companies is how to survive in a very narrow space. What is the basis of survival? He compared the current situation of trust companies to fish in a pond, which has water but is not deep enough and lacks oxygen. Since water is put into fish farming, it is necessary to keep enough water for fish to survive and keep the oxygen content. If there is not enough water and oxygen content for fish farming, fish will inevitably jump up and down in the pond.
When talking about the way out for trust companies, Zhang said that with the opening of the financial market, the trust business field will also be expanded and extended, which is both an opportunity and a challenge for trust companies. What is worth thinking about is the reform of trust companies or the merger with commercial banks to become trust banks, which is the road that developed financial trust areas such as the United States, Canadian, Japanese and Taiwan Province Province have taken one after another. This will fundamentally change the trust company's lack of credit base, cash flow and poor ability to resist risks, implement an effective governance model of commercial banks, and completely change the current situation of trust companies. On August 3, 20 15, china trustee association released "Analysis of Trust Industry Development in China in the Second Quarter of 20 15", which showed that by the end of the second quarter, the scale of trust assets managed by 68 trust companies in China had reached 15.87 trillion yuan, compared with 14 at the end of the first quarter of 2065438. This is also the first time that the scale of trust assets ushered in a warming trend from the third quarter of 20 13 to the first quarter of 20 15 after the year-on-year growth rate of trust assets declined quarter by quarter for seven consecutive quarters, and the trust industry entered the "15 trillion yuan era".