Yu Xuejun: CBIRC will Promote High-Quality Development of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) from Four Aspects

Source: World Finance Forum (WFF)

Published: 2021-06-07

On May 12, 2021, the Belt and Road Forum for International Financial Cooperation and the 4th World Finance Forum (WFF) was successfully held in Xi’an, China. It was co-hosted by the World Finance Forum and the People’s Government of Shaanxi Province, organized by the Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau of Shaanxi Province and Shaanxi Provincial Convention and Exhibition Center, and co-organized by Shaanxi Financial Asset Management Co., Ltd. Yu Xuejun, former vice ministerial-level official of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC), delivered a keynote speech at the opening session of the forum on behalf of the CBIRC.

Yu Xuejun first extended warm congratulations on the convening of the forum on behalf of the CBIRC. He noted that since the BRI was put forward more than seven years ago, it has achieved fruitful results in various fields. In terms of financial integration, Chinese-funded banks and insurance institutions have taken active roles in optimizing the network layout, carrying out cooperative innovation, and providing strong financial support for BRI projects.

 In recent years, the overseas layout of Chinese-funded banks and insurance institutions has been continuously optimized and their coverage further expanded. By the end of 2020, a total of 12 Chinese-funded banks had established 119 tier-one institutions in 46 BRI countries, and 4 Chinese-funded insurance institutions had established 9 business institutions in ROK, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Chinese-funded banks have been actively expanding financing sources, raising long-term funds through various channels, enriching product systems, and providing credit support for major projects. By the end of 2020, more than 3,000 BRI projects had received support from Chinese-funded banks.

 Yu Xuejun said that in recent years, China’s financial sector constantly opens up to the outside world. Since 2018, the financial management and regulation departments have issued more than 50 new measures for opening-up, 34 of which are related to the banking and insurance industry, and the revision of relevant laws and regulations has been basically completed. In the past three years, the CBIRC has approved the establishment of more than 100 foreign-funded banks and insurance institutions, many of which are of symbolic significance. For example, Allianz, a German insurance group, was approved to set up the first wholly foreign-owned insurance holding company in China. In terms of cross-border regulatory cooperation, the CBIRC has actively negotiated over and signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) on regulatory cooperation with BRI countries and thus established a formal regulatory cooperation mechanism.

 Yu Xuejun mentioned that up to now, China has signed bilateral regulatory cooperation MOUs with 50 financial regulators from BRI countries. Continuous efforts will be devoted to expanding cooperation in the sharing of banking and insurance regulatory information and response to cross-border crisis. On this basis, the CBIRC will further strengthen coordination with financial regulatory authorities in key countries, and establish regular exchange mechanisms and efficient regulatory coordination mechanisms, to promote the mutually sound and steady development of banking and insurance institutions.

 Yu Xuejun noted that this year marks the start of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan period. Based on the new development stage, the CBIRC will continue supporting the banking and insurance industry to uphold the philosophy of “extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits”, improve the capability of serving the building of the BRI, and promote the high-quality development of the BRI from four aspects. The first is to continue promoting high-level opening-up and create a new situation of win-win cooperation. The second is to increase financial cooperation and innovation, enhance comprehensive service capabilities, and support Chinese-funded banks to expand financing sources under the premise of controllable risks, and innovate financial products and services with such methods as Fintech. The third is to deepen cross-border regulatory cooperation with overseas regulatory authorities and create a favorable external environment. The fourth is to promote green development and thus realize sustainable development.