BEIJING, Nov 2: China’s banking sector is improving but still faces a long road ahead in terms of reform, central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said on Wednesday. “It’s fair to say that the road to reform is still long,” he said in a speech to a business conference in Beijing.

He added that it was too soon to be complacent about the health of the sector, despite progress made in the past five years.

Mr Zhou said China’s banks were considered by the international banking community to be “too lousy” to buy into five years ago.

But he noted foreign banks were now rushing to invest in Chinese lenders.

He said small to midsize Chinese banks were “really hot” among would-be foreign stakeholders, despite the relatively poor financial indicators of some of the targeted Chinese lenders.

Mr Zhou also said China would continue to reform and monitor the sector, while learning from international experience.

The central bank governor made the remark the same day that a South China Morning Post report said a bid by Singapore investment company Temasek to buy a 10 per cent stake in the mainland’s Bank of China had stalled.—AFP