Banking Antitrust Regulation Of The United States And References For China

Banking is a high risky industry and its healthy development plays an important role in stabilizing and securing the economy of a country. Therefore, banking is under severe regulation of countries in the world. Banking monopoly is usually complicated and will bring damages to all aspects of the economy. In this light, banking anti-monopoly is necessary and especially significant. The United States owns the most developed banking market and antitrust law in the world with the longest history. Although banking had long been excluded from the application of antitrust law before the US V. Philadelphia National Bank, a complete antitrust mechanism for banking has been formed. Monopolistic agreements and abuses of market power are mainly regulated by general anti-monopoly law and a coordination mechanism has been developed for antitrust investigations of bank mergers. The investigation and review process and standards have also been integrated and coordinated to a certain extent, which improves the expectability of legal implementation and enhances economic efficiency.The banking industry in China is less developed, but the monopolistic problem still troubles a lot. The Anti-monopoly Law of China was enacted in the end of2007and has encountered many difficulties in implementation. In order to deal with increasing banking monopoly issues and complaints from consumers, China has to establish and complete a systemic banking anti-monopoly mechanism in the future. The advanced experience of United States can provide us good references. We shall establish the cooperation mechanism among banking supervisors and anti-monopoly authorities, providing banking supervisors appropriate jurisdiction. We also have to further complete relevant laws and legal liabilities. Finally, it shall be made clear that banking industry does not enjoy automatic exemption from anti-monopoly laws. However, certain behaviors may be exempted under the "public interest doctrine". Establishing a banking anti-monopoly mechanism which is integrated with the common anti-monopoly system and is independent to a certain extent is the trend of banking anti-monopoly regulation in China.