China to roll out fintech development plan: central bank

China will roll out a fintech development plan and apply the technology more widely to better serve its real economy, said Fan Yifei, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, the central bank.

He made the comments at a news conference Sunday.

The central bank partnered with the National Development and Reform Commission at the end of last year to launch a trial fintech program in 10 Chinese cities and provinces including Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong province.

Government bodies will now accelerate the introduction of a nationwide fintech development plan, said Fan.

The application of the technology should address financing problems faced by micro and small-sized enterprises, he said.

The program will use information networks and mobile internet technology to improve credit models and lower the cost of credit services, in an effort to improve efficiency.

Its purpose is to further automate approvals for financing applications, establish a product sales network, and detect financial risks more intelligently, he said.

The program will use artificial intelligence to incorporate finance into most public services, so the public can benefit from ongoing financial reform, said Fan.

Data should be integrated and better exploited so that finance can better serve the real economy, while technologies should be applied to allocate financial resources in key or less-developed areas in China, he said.

Supervision technology should also be used to help the financial system detect, prevent and cope with risks. A financial risk technology management system should be established based on machine learning and data mining, said Fan.