The former head of the Chinese central bank has highlighted the reciprocal nature of the relationship between the financial sector and the latest tech innovations.
Zhou Xiaochuan (周小川), former chief of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said at a conference held by Tsinghua University that the rapid development of information technology including blockchain, big data, cloud computing, internet infrastructure and mobile internet would have major implications for the financial sector.
Technology would bring many new challenges and demands to the formulation and execution of public policy, and financial policy in particular.
“Looking at the relationship between the finance sector and the information industry, finance should maintain a nuanced and supportive relationship of new technology, and employ competitive mechanisms to select the best.
“At the same time it must maintain significant accommodation and tolerance of failure, as well as accept the nature of rapid obsolescence.
“From the perspective of financial regulation, consideration must be given to the stability and development of the financial sector, with a focus on ensuring that the applicability of existing macro-economic control measures are not impacted.
“[We] need to use effective incentive measures to guide tech in the improvement of financial services and expedite industry growth.”
