Important international financial intermediaries are present in a higher proportion than in other European banking systems. Foreign banks and financial institutions currently hold an average of 17 per cent of the capital of the four largest banking groups; for the 10 largest groups, the share held by foreign intermediaries is 11 per cent.
Since interbank lending was approved among specialized banks in China in 1984, interbank lending market emerged across China. In 1993, the PBC fostered the establishment of a national interbank lending market. In 2007, when the Measures for the Administration of Interbank Lending was issued, the PBC launched Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate (Shibor) and advanced the reform and opening of the money market.