China unveils guideline on strengthening financial infrastructure supervision

BEIJING -- China has issued a work plan on enhancing coordinated supervision over the financial infrastructures to improve their capabilities of serving the real economy and forestalling financial risks, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said Thursday.

As the systematic and institutional arrangement for providing financial public services, the financial infrastructures have played a pivotal role in the steady and sound operation of the financial market, said the document jointly released by the PBOC and five other departments.

After years of construction, China has formed a full-fledged financial infrastructure system, which has supported financial trading activities in the currency, securities, funds, futures, foreign exchange and other markets, according to the document.

Next, the central bank will work with other authorities to unify supervision standards, optimize entry management and improve governance structure to put in place an advanced financial infrastructure system, said the PBOC.

The supervision scope over the financial infrastructures covers the financial asset registration and custody system, clearing and settlement system, trading facilities, trading report repository, major payment system and basic credit reporting system, according to the work plan.