Beijing, Oct. 16 (PTI): Chinese banking regulators are still pondering whether to establish a special commission to improve inter-ministry co-ordination in financial supervision, a senior official said.

Referring to recent reports of a “super regulator” for the country's finance and banking industries, deputy director of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), Tang Shuangning told a bankers forum here that the plan was still under discussion and “every coin has two sides”, implying that such an institution had both advantages and disadvantages.

Since the beginning of the year, China has seen more of its banks, securities dealers and insurance companies extending beyond their traditional services and developing overlapping businesses.

China Life Insurance Company limited, the country's biggest life insurer, has become the second largest shareholder of Citic Securities Company, a major Chinese stock dealer. Ping an insurance company has acquired 89.24 per cent of the shares of Shenzhen Commercial Bank, and China Construction Bank is to establish insurance companies on the mainland.