Abstract. Active development of China's economy relies heavily on the national financial system, of which the banks are the pillars. In this connection, the condition of the banking system has crucial influence on the nation’s economy growth and the speed of its integration into world economy. The article provides comprehensive analysis of China’s banking system’s fundamental challenges of the present, the roots of the major problems and the potential risks they carry. The author carried out the systematization of the contemporary problems of China's banking system. Accordingly, the problems of the modern banking system in China fall into three groups: system-wide ones, regulatory issues and technical problem. The groups are ranked by the degree of severity and urgency to the development of the national banking system and economy.