China sets up super regulator to mend over fragmented financial regulatory structure
President Xi Jinping has ordered the establishment of a super regulator with powers to coordinate the supervision and management of financial stability, finally putting into action a plan that has been in the works for at least a decade to mend over the country’s fragmented regulatory structure.
The State Council will set up a Financial Stability Development Committee to coordinate between the regulators of banking, securities and insurance, while the People’s Bank of China -- the central bank -- will be imbued with powers to assume a bigger role in curbing risks, according to Xinhua News Agency, citing the National Financial Work Conference.
Political stability is the top priority for Xi and his government, as they head into the Communist Party’s conclave this autumn for selecting the leadership ranks for the next five years. Fresh on everybody’s mind is how the country’s financial regulatory structure was ill-prepared for the 2015 rout that wiped trillions of yuan from the stock market’s capitalisation, and last year’s insurance industry chaos that roiled the securities market and banks.
The government has already sacked the chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, and had him investigated for graft, while penalising insurers whose fund raising activities had “seriously disturbed an orderly financial market.” Such behaviour will be curtailed, Xi said, according to Xinhua.
While pledging to let market forces play “a decisive role” in allocating financial resources, Xi emphasised that the party’s leadership should “ensure the right direction of financial reform and development.”
“The eternal theme of financial work is to prevent systemic financial risks,” which requires regulatory departments and local governments to monitor risks, as well as intervene to control the scale of local government debts, Xi said at the meeting, according to Xinhua’s report.