＂experimental field＂ leads financial opening and releases more positive signals

Original title: "Experimental Field" leads financial opening and releases more positive signals

Recently, the People’s Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange held a forum for foreign-funded financial institutions and foreign-funded enterprises, releasing an important signal of "continuously improving the quality and efficiency of financial services and helping to open to the outside world at a high level". At the same time, as the "leader" of financial opening, the General Office of Shanghai Municipal People’s Government recently issued the "Implementation Plan for Shanghai to Implement Several Measures for Promoting Institutional Opening in Conditional Pilot Free Trade Zones and Free Trade Ports" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Plan"), and deployed 31 measures in all directions, many of which also involved giving full national treatment to foreign-funded financial institutions and conducting prudent supervision.

According to industry insiders, the recent deployment means that the management department will increase its support for high-level financial opening. Looking forward to the future, the systematic and institutional opening situation will be further formed and improved. At the same time, as an open "experimental field", Shanghai Free Trade Zone will further play a leading role.

Recently, the application for equity change of Dehua Angu Life Insurance Co., Ltd., a joint venture of German Angu Group in China, was officially approved by Shandong Supervision Bureau of the State Administration of Finance, which means that Dehua Angu Life Insurance has become another foreign-controlled life insurance company. At the same time, the fifth joint venture financing company, Banong Bank Finance Co., Ltd., has officially opened recently … In recent years, a number of opening-up measures have been introduced in the financial sector, and the restrictions on the ratio of foreign shares have been lifted, and a number of opening-up examples are continuing to land.

"The first thing about financial openness is access. At present, the progress is good. The licenses of various foreign-funded financial institutions such as foreign funds, foreign securities, foreign banks and foreign insurance are continuously issued, especially in Shanghai. " Wang Yunfeng, general manager, president and chief executive officer of HSBC Bank (China) Limited, said at the 5th Bund Financial Summit held from 22nd to 24th.

In fact, the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone has continuously deepened the opening and innovation in the financial sector, exerted the "head geese" effect of institutional innovation, and developed into a national-level "experimental field" for new policies and mechanisms.

The reporter learned from the news briefing recently held jointly by Shanghai Banking Association and Shanghai Insurance Association that "Ten Years of Endeavour Road Sailing New Journey-10th Anniversary of Shanghai Banking and Insurance Free Trade" that after the listing of Shanghai Free Trade Zone, the former CBRC and the former CIRC respectively issued eight guiding opinions to support the construction of Shanghai Free Trade Zone, forming the earliest institutional framework to promote financial openness and innovation in the Free Trade Zone. On this basis, Shanghai Supervision Bureau issued a number of supporting systems around market access, special business authorization and statistical risk monitoring, which effectively strengthened the guidance of regulatory policies.

Recently, with the release of the Implementation Plan, a number of measures to further promote a higher level of financial opening will be launched in Shanghai. For example, with the guidance and support of the national financial management department, enterprises, individuals working or living registered in Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone and Lingang New Area are allowed to purchase cross-border insurance, investment and other financial services. For another example, if a foreign-funded financial institution applies for developing new financial services already carried out by Chinese-funded financial institutions in Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone and Lingang New Area, the financial management department in Shanghai will implement the new financial service license for foreign-funded financial institutions according to the institutional type, institutional nature, licensing requirements and licensing procedures of foreign-funded financial institutions defined by the national financial management department, and fully give national treatment to foreign-funded financial institutions and conduct prudent supervision.

"A higher level of openness means greater openness, a higher level of openness, and more open channels." Tu Guangshao, Executive Chairman of the Bund Financial Summit Organizing Committee and Chairman of Shanghai New Finance Research Institute, stressed at the Bund Financial Summit that the most important opening is institutional opening, which is the leading meaning of the opening of Shanghai International Financial Center. At the same time, it is necessary to shift from the past pipeline opening to full opening, from the opening of traditional factors to the opening of new factors such as data, and from the opening of funds and capital to the opening of global allocation of resources.

Liu Yuanchun, president of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, also expressed at the summit that he hoped that through the pipeline opening and limited promotion of control under local capital, the global allocation capacity would be strengthened, and the SAR would be built first, so that Shanghai could be upgraded as an international financial center. At the same time, from pipeline opening to platform opening, we should strengthen the construction of institutional standards on important products and solve the bottleneck of ideological emancipation and institutional innovation.

While the "experimental field" plays a leading role, systematic and institutional opening will continue to be promoted nationwide. On September 18th, Pan Gongsheng, Governor of the People’s Bank of China and Director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, presided over a forum for foreign-funded financial institutions and foreign-funded enterprises. He pointed out that the next step will be to conscientiously implement the requirements of the State Council’s Opinions on Further Optimizing the Foreign Investment Environment and Increasing Attracting Foreign Investment, continuously optimize policy arrangements, create a market-oriented, rule-of-law and international first-class business environment, continuously improve the quality and efficiency of financial services, and help open up to the outside world at a high level.

Jin Zhongxia, Director of the International Department of the People’s Bank of China, also said at the 2023 China International Finance Annual Forum that in the next step, the People’s Bank of China will focus on three aspects in promoting the higher level of opening up of the financial industry. The first is to improve the management mode of national treatment plus negative list before entry, and form a systematic and institutional opening situation; Secondly, it is necessary to optimize the business environment, not only to expand market access, but also to optimize the policy arrangements after access; Finally, it is necessary to ensure that the financial management ability matches the level of openness.

"China’s financial opening will bring great opportunities. From the financial point of view, there will be three major trends, namely, the global funds will be reconfigured, the supply chain will be reorganized, and the demand for using RMB as transaction settlement and investment in diversified demand will gradually increase." Hong Pi, Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank in Asia, said at the Bund Financial Summit that China has been steadily advancing its basic opening-up in the financial sector in the past few years, which not only accelerated its integration with the international community and the interconnection of financial markets, but also increased its cross-border cooperation. It is believed that the continuous opening of China’s financial system is an inevitable process, but the institutional opening still needs to face some considerations to maintain financial security and stability. (□ Reporter Zhang Mo Wang Shujuan Intern reporter Chen Hanyu)

(Economic Information Daily)