BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Vice Premier Huang Ju said Monday the government should hold a lion's share of the country's Big Four state banks when they are inviting overseas investors.

    Banking reform and opening-up should be pressed ahead in a stable and steadfast manner, the official told an annual meeting of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC).

    China is overhauling its state banks before it fully opens its banking industry to foreign competition by late 2006 under the commitments made along with its accession to the World Trade Organization.

    Banks are expected to streamline their operation and become "commercial banks in real sense" by establishing a shareholding system, inviting strategic foreign investors and then going public.

    China Construction Bank has already been listed in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, while Bank of China is said to sell shares to private investors later this year. The Big Four also includes Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China.

    Huang also stressed the "necessity, arduousness and complexity"of state-banks in their reform.

    The government should have absolute control of the state banks so as to ensure the safety of Chinese economy and financial sector, the vice premier said.

    Huang urged banking executives to "improve the state banks' corporate governance, upgrade their internal control and ensure the continuous consolidation and development of their joint-stock reform."

    The regulator should speed up efforts to reduce the banks' non-performing loans and banking irregularities and build a quality team of supervisors, he said.

    The CBRC acknowledged in an earlier report that it punished 799 staff members of Chinese banks last year for the involvement in improper loans totaling 588.5 billion yuan (about 73 billion U.S. dollars). Enditem