Mention reforming China’s state-owned enterprises to Asia’s bankers and you will be greeted by a mix of resignation and hope. The latter stems from the sheer size of the sector, which means any change involves seemingly significant numbers. The former results from the fact that those headline-grabbing sums have so far failed either to deliver a meaningful change that might excite investors or to generate fat fees for the work.
Yet bankers are once more allowing hope to triumph over experience — some of which can be attributed to January optimism and the search for fresh ideas as year-end targets and league tables are reset to zero.
There are reasons to expect big changes in the year ahead. SOEs have been the laggards in China’s reform agenda even as liberalisation of the financial sector and markets has continued. As of Monday, for example, Beijing quietly extended trading in the onshore renminbi beyond its own hours and well into the London day in an effort to internationalise the currency.