Governance and banking system morphology in China: the evolution over the last two decades (1995–2015)

Over the past two decades in the Chinese banking system substantial progress has been made, and reforms have been mainly aimed at improving its governance and efficiency, but many governance problems still exist and hinder a complete transition to a market economy. Through the analysis of the economic freedom and the global governance indicators, in the context of a comparative analysis with European and North American countries, this paper shows that, despite a considerable economic growth, economic and financial reforms, Chinese governance variables are likely to have a second order effect in comparison with fundamental economic variables in favouring (or not) Chinese growth. However the high rate of growth, over the years of the financial turmoil as well, may have paradoxically prevented the improvement of governance indexes, meanwhile financial sector and global governance issues will have to be improved in order to promote efficient financial intermediation and sustainable growth in China.