Internal governance mechanisms and effective monitoring needed to ensure healthy operations of the financial sector

Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of China's central bank, in response to widespread criticism of the large profits reaped by the country's banking sector, said at a news conference on Monday that changed economic cycles have contributed to the high but not exorbitant profit growth of domestic banks.

His remarks came just days after Wu Xiaoling, former deputy governor of the central bank and a deputy director of the Financial and Economic Committee of the National People's Congress, suggested that there are grounds for criticism as some unreasonable profit-making practices do exist within banks.