PBOC regulating financial system

The People's Bank of China will put more regulations in place on financial systems and institutional arrangements to guarantee financial safety, its deputy governor said at a forum over the weekend.

Chen Yulu, deputy governor of the central bank, said given the rapid development of finance technology, the construction of mechanisms for financial systems and institutional arrangements has higher requirements. Key areas include payment, credit information and financial statistics.

"We will formulate regulations on market access, operation and management of financial infrastructure," Chen said.

China's payment system has been world-leading, Chen said, and the first phase of the renminbi cross-border payment system has put into operation. China has also set up the world's largest enterprise and individual credit information system.

The People's Bank of China is starting a pilot program of financial comprehensive statistics, aimed at building a unified and open information system.

In May, the central bank set up a finance technology commission for research and planning and preventing potential risks.

Chen also said that China will "neither loosen nor tighten" monetary policy to ensure stabilized market liquidity.

"The People's Bank of China will continue to implement a prudent and neutral monetary policy, and create a neutral and moderate financial environment for the supply-side reform," the deputy governor said.

Policymakers' intensified measures to reduce financing have been talking effect to guarantee financial stability. The central bank started to raise the cost of its interbank loans from the third quarter last year, after the previous loosening cycle pushed benchmark interest rates to record lows.

"China has entered an era that requires greater attention on financial security than ever before," said Wu Xiaoling, former deputy governor of the People's Bank of China and now dean of PBC School of Finance at Tsinghua University.

Wu explained that China's economy has transitioned to a new normal, with a new economic engine replacing the old and more innovations in the financial industry, so safeguarding financial security must take a more important position.

Chen said the central bank will lead Chinese financial institutions to play their original role in supporting the real economy and beefing up the high-end manufacturing and the "weak links" in the economy, while boosting direct financing and cutting funding costs.