China pledges to deepen financial sector reforms

China will unswervingly deepen reform and expand opening-up to continuously enhance the momentum and vitality of financial development, and to advance high-standard opening-up in the financial sector, Li Yunze, minister of the National Financial Regulatory Administration, said on Monday.

The NFRA will promote institutional opening-up in the financial sector toward broader areas and deeper levels, fully implementing the pre-establishment national treatment plus negative list management system. It will also enhance the cross-border management capacity of Chinese financial institutions to better support high-quality cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.

The administration will actively participate in the reform of global financial governance and contribute more Chinese wisdom to improving international financial regulatory rules and industry standards, Li said at the 2025 Annual Conference of the Financial Street Forum, which opened on Monday in Beijing.

The administration will continue to take a problem-oriented approach to further deepen structural reform on the financial supply side, promote a more balanced institutional layout, and strengthen the quality, resilience and international influence of financial development.

At the same time, it will guide financial institutions of different types and sizes to identify their roles, focus on core businesses, engage in differentiated competition, and pursue specialized and distinctive development, jointly building a diverse, orderly and sustainable financial ecosystem, he said.

The NFRA will firmly uphold the bottom line of preventing systemic financial risks. It will consolidate the outcomes of risk disposal and advance mergers and restructuring of small and medium-sized financial institutions in a prudent and orderly manner to streamline and improve efficiency.

The administration will step up efforts to dispose of nonperforming assets and replenish capital, diversify risk-handling resources and tools, and ensure the stable operation of the financial system. It will accelerate the establishment of a financing mechanism aligned with the new development model of the real estate sector and help mitigate local government debt risks.

The financial regulator will also strengthen multilateral and bilateral coordination, improve cross-border risk monitoring, early-warning, and response mechanisms, and enhance international cooperation and crisis management efficiency to jointly address major risks and challenges and safeguard global financial stability, said Li.

The NFRA will foster a new financial service model that coordinates direct and indirect financing, balances investment in both physical and human capital, aligns financing terms with industrial development, and connects domestic and international markets. It will strengthen financial support for major national strategies, key sectors and weak links to promote both qualitative improvement and reasonable quantitative growth of the economy.

The administration will guide financial institutions to better serve the development of a modern industrial system and new quality productive forces. Focusing on intelligent, green and integrated growth, it will provide more financial resources to upgrade traditional industries and foster emerging and future industries.

It will also improve long-term capital support policies that encourage early-stage, small-scale, long-term and hard-tech investments, strengthen all-cycle comprehensive financial safeguards, and promote the deep integration of technological and industrial innovation, Li added.