Finance companies are an increasingly important part of China's financial system. This is particularly so as China pushes ahead with financial reforms that promote competition in the financial sector and increase the role of the market in setting interest rates and the renminbi exchange rate. According to data provided by the China Association of Finance Companies, after nearly 30 years of expansion, finance companies had combined assets of 4,760.4 billion yuan as of the end of 2016 with owner's equity of 673.4 billion yuan. Non-performing assets were a tiny 0.03%, while the capital adequacy ratio reached 21.25% and provision coverage reached 3303.79%. With the growing maturity of China's financial market, finance companies are moving into new businesses, including the issuance of financial bonds, providing global sweep accounts for multinationals and offering international supply chain financing. As more and more domestic enterprises move into the international market, finance companies are playing an ever greater role in China's financial environment. Finance companies got their start in developed Western economies, and there is a considerable amount of research on the role they have played as the treasury platform for enterprise groups. Much of their experience may be applicable to the China market.

Han Ling, deputy general manager at Siemens Financial Services, said that the centralized governance framework at Siemens' treasury operations is comprised of three key segments: governance, implementation and control. She said that for governance, the company clearly confers administrative authority to the treasurer. For implementation, the treasurer can deal with both internal transactions and external payments. For control, the central treasurer needs the corresponding internal auditing to continuously monitor compliance with existing laws and regulations. This is a key measure for performance assessment of the operations of subsidiaries.

One company with a wealth of experience in dealing with these risks as they apply to members of an enterprise group is Siemens Financial Services Ltd. In recent years, Siemens Financial has accelerated the pace of its centralized treasury management operations, and the company's experience could serve as a handy reference for many of China's own enterprise groups.

Matthias Plenio, executive director and general manager of Siemens Financial Services, told reporters recently that the financial needs of Siemens across its various business areas in China are similar to those of domestic groups. In some cases there is a shortage of funds while in others there is a surplus of deposits. Moreover, all group members with foreign currency business need foreign exchange risk management. As an enterprise group's 'internal bank,' a group finance company firstly provides settlement as well as capital pooling, capital monitoring and other financial services. The finance company can also offer integrated foreign exchange management and financial services, such as foreign currency deposits, foreign currency loans, and foreign currency pooling as well as settlement and remittances for group members. Making use of effective internal and external control methods, finance companies help group members keep abreast of financial hedging tools of the foreign exchange market to help mitigate foreign exchange risks in production and other business areas. At the same time, these companies need to build cross-border renminbi capital pools, and facilitate the channels of the capital pool for domestic and foreign currencies of the financial companies, while integrating and co-coordinating capital management. This is to create a fast, efficient and convenient centralized management platform for foreign exchange funds.

In particular, risk identification is the first step of foreign exchange risk management. Siemens Group has issued detailed guidelines for foreign exchange management for its global companies. The group has uniform requirements for hedging, the extent of hedging and the method of calculating foreign exchange exposure risks. In actual practice, the regional treasury center takes responsibility. In China, Siemens Financial Services focuses on the foreign exchange risk of all enterprises, and actively carries out spot settlement and sales business with financial licenses. It monitors long-term and swap foreign exchange rate risk management, to deliver more efficient services for the member units. At the same time, the company provides foreign exchange business consulting and regular foreign exchange management training, including the signing of business contracts. When it comes to specific projects, at the start of the bidding phase, the company helps sales managers calculate the exchange rate to determine the hedging costs. In addition, the company installs a currency manager for all member units, and he or she is responsible for the identification, reporting and monitoring of foreign exchange risk.

Mr. Plenio stressed that Siemens is a very conservative multinational company as far as risk management is concerned, and that it eschews speculative deals. It looks to pursue business operating profit rather than generate profits by taking speculative positions. The use of derivative products is confined to limiting or reducing foreign exchange risks and operating costs. Moreover, hedging is meant to be used to avoid unpleasant surprises and reduce the effects of exchange rate swings on profits. At Siemens, the level of foreign exchange risk is quite low, and the company can always square its positions through the foreign exchange trading center, the executive said.

Regulatory supervision of finance companies is conducted mainly by the China Banking Regulatory Commission but for interbank lending, foreign exchange settlement and other specific businesses, the central bank and the foreign exchange regulator provide supervision and guidance.

At present, many domestic finance companies are still in the development stage, with credit risk management as their focus. As such they may overlook operational and compliance risks. With greater attention placed on 'risk regulation' — or regulation that is aimed at controlling risk — compliance management is taking on an increasingly critical role in the operations of these companies.

Regulatory supervision of domestic finance companies is focused on monitoring ongoing operations of companies rather than prior approvals. In some cases this has not been up to the task of preventing risk while in other areas authorities have exceeded the regulatory limits on their authority.

Compliance has been one of the most important business objectives at Siemens Financial Services Ltd.. With the help of information technology, the company has developed a unique platform that links member companies of the Siemens Group member and achieves coordinated financial transactions, internal settlement and automated account management. Han Ling said that one of the central components of the internal control system is reflected in the payment process, which involves a clear division of responsibilities. This ensures transaction authenticity and eliminates opportunities for fraud or other corrupt practices. At Siemens, the payment process is basically a process of automatic completion without human intervention.

At Siemens, if a group member makes a purchase order, official receipts, invoicing and other documentation is required before the order is transferred to what is called the 'payment factory' for further processing.  The 'payment factory' carries out automated audit before payments are made, including fraud prevention, embargo, anti-money laundering requirements and other related verifications.

The Guidelines for Risk Evaluation and Classification of Financial Companies in Enterprise Group provide direction for finance companies in their compliance management task. In the compliance business, human interference is the biggest concern. In this regard, the automation process designed by the 'payment factory' at Siemens Financial Services Ltd. is a useful guide.

According to the latest industry rating by the Financial Companies of China Enterprise Group, there are 68 finance companies rated as 'innovative.' At present, the business scope of finance companies, as approved by the China Banking Regulatory Commission, covers credit verification and related consulting for group member companies, agency business, financial advisory services, entrusted loans for member companies and investments within the enterprise group, the cashing and discounting of all bills of member companies, settlements for member companies engaged in internal transfers, the taking of deposits from group  member companies and interbank lending.

Despite continuing reforms of China's financial system, finance companies face a number of hurdles, particularly a relatively low utilization of funds, which results in idle capital and the inefficient use of working capital. At the same time there has been an overall inability to capitalize on reforms at the group level.

Experts maintain that finance companies need to transform their operating structure and profit model. New businesses, such as supply chain financing, centralized management of foreign exchange and other pilot business are seen as new potential growth areas that need to be tapped to a greater extent.

Han Ling noted that Siemens Financial Services Ltd. is part of a pilot project of centralized operation and management of foreign exchange funds under a program approved by the Beijing Foreign Exchange Management Department. This has allowed the company to consolidate the foreign exchange operations of more than 50 operating companies around the country. In its business development, the centralized management of foreign exchange funds lets the company build a foreign currency pool that concentrates foreign exchange funds. By undertaking spot settlement and sales in foreign exchange, the group has access to preferential prices, thereby reducing costs to group companies. On this basis, the group can make forward transactions as well and further reduce costs while boosting transaction efficiency.

In the future, with regulatory authorities permitting finance companies to enter new businesses through pilot projects, finance companies are expected to find new business opportunities.