New steps in financial opening to bridge Sino-US differences

China will continue taking new steps in financial opening-up this year, over which Sino-US trade talks are very likely to reach a consensus, said Guo Shuqing, Party secretary of the People's Bank of China.

China has rolled out 15 opening-up measures in the banking and insurance sectors, which have been largely put into place now, since President Xi Jinping reaffirmed China's commitment to further financial opening-up at the Boao Forum in April last year, said Guo, who is also the chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

Many foreign banks and insurance companies were allowed to enter the Chinese market directly or expand business scopes here last year, Guo said. "More progress will be made this year."

"Over issues of financial opening-up, China and the United States will be able to reach an agreement, although there may still be small divergences currently," Guo said.

Guo said his opinion was based on the facts that China has taken the initiative to open up the financial sector to satisfy its development needs over the past 40 years, and that practitioners and regulators of the two countries' financial sectors are very familiar with each other.

There has been misunderstanding over China's currency policies, which "totally can be removed" through communication, Guo said. Based on the definition given by the US Department of the Treasury, China has not conducted any currency manipulations— or depreciating the yuan to gain competitive advantages in trade, Guo said.

"China has been working to maintain the stability of the yuan," Guo said.

When asked about future policies benefiting financial institutions that are funded by Hong Kong investors and operate on the mainland, Guo said: "Hong Kong's banks, securities firms and insurers have made a lot of developments on the Chinese mainland. I believe they will make bigger achievements (here)."