China’s new financial watchdog has work cut out for it
Stability committee is Beijing’s defence against a US-style meltdown of the banking system
Nine years after the fall of the US-based Lehman Brothers bank in 2008, which triggered a global financial crisis, China has a shield against its own Lehman moment: a financial stability committee.
While details of the committee are still shrouded in darkness, including who will head it and how much power it will have, hopes are high that the agency under the State Council can tackle the “seven types of risks” threatening the country’s financial stability.
Borrowing pages from the US Financial Stability Oversight Council and Britain’s regulatory structure, Chinese leaders announced the launch of the Financial Stability and Development Committee after a key financial work conference over the weekend. The committee aims to improve policy coordination to avoid regulatory blind spots.
China’s financial sector faces excessive credit, rampant shadow banking and lax oversight after a decade of monetary easing. A stock market rout in 2015 was a reminder of the country’s financial vulnerability.
Lu Lei, head of the People’s Bank of China’s financial stability bureau, listed the seven types of risk building up on the mainland.