China's crisis management and market exit mechanism for banks—What is the way forward?

As China's crisis management and market exit mechanism for banks (CMME mechanism) is still at an early stage of development, the legislation governing the mechanism is far from sufficient or satisfactory. With the aim of exploring how the holistic framework of China's CMME mechanism can be improved, this article systemically examines the mechanism from the perspectives of the major procedural components and the specially designed funding sources. Based on the analysis, three major types of weaknesses in the current mechanism are pointed out: ‘missing elements’, ‘unfit elements’ and ‘uncoordinated elements’. To be specific, some essential elements are missing from the current mechanism; some elements in the mechanism are unfit when applied to banks; and some elements are uncoordinated with each other within the mechanism. It is necessary that an overhaul of the mechanism be carried out to address these weaknesses. In addition, given that governments' involvement was demonstrated to be helpful in resolving bank crises in past cases, it would be better to institutionalise this experience in the CMME mechanism. Only with a well‐crafted CMME mechanism can bank crises be resolved in an orderly, effective and efficient manner.