Beijing Drives Reform of Key Financial Infrastructure

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Beijing has flagged further reform of China’s key financial infrastructure systems at a recent central government meeting.

A meeting of the Central Comprehensive Reform Deepening Committee (中央全面深化改革委员会) convened by President Xi Jinping on 9 September called for “strengthening of the coordinated regulation of key financial infrastructure and unified regulatory standardisation,” as well as “driving the formation of an advanced, reliable, highly flexible financial infrastructure system.’

The meeting saw the approval of several key documents relating to the reform of China’s financial infrastructure, including the:

  • Work Plan for the Coordinated Regulation of Financial Infrastructure (统筹监管金融基础设施工作方案);
  • The Provisional Regulations on the Professional Duties of State-owned Financial Capital Capital Contributors (国有金融资本出资人职责暂行规定).

An essay by Jiao Jinpu (焦瑾璞), director of the Shanghai Gold Exchange, states that China’s financial infrastructure system is comprised of five key areas:

  1. The payments system, with the Chinese central bank at its core;
  2. The central securities depository (中央证券存管) and securities settlement system (证券结算系统);
  3. The central counterparty settlement system (中央对手方);
  4. The transaction reporting database (交易报告库);
  5. Other financial market infrastructure.