PBOC chief plays down financial industry liberalisation
(29 May 2018 – China) The People’s Bank of China Governor has tried to cool expectations of liberalising the country’s financial industry, saying that whatever relaxation in regulations will have to be “gradual” and “steady.”
Governor Yi Gang, during the Annual Conference of Financial Street Forum in Beijing, said, “We have introduced a few new policies after President Xi Jinping made the promise to the world that China will continue reforms during the Boao Forum,” however any relaxation of the industry must be “in accordance with regulatory capacity.”
The comments come as China fends off criticisms from the US and European Union that it’s still dragging its feet in opening the Chinese financial services industry to greater foreign participation. Investors have also been pushing for a relaxation of China’s foreign exchange controls, where the currency remains non-convertible.
UBS, Nomura and JPMorgan Chase & Co, spurred on by the announcement in April that the foreign-ownership limit in securities, fund management, futures brokers and life insurers would be raised to 51 percent, applied to set up ventures in China. S&P Global and Fitch Ratings have also said they would establish independent businesses in China soon, after having spent the past two decades working with Chinese partners.
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