China among high-performing financial inclusion countries in Asia: report

BEIJING -- China is among the high performers in terms of financial inclusion in Asian economies, according to an index launched by the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA).

The "Asian Index of Financial Inclusion Ecosystem," unveiled on Thursday, is designed to evaluate the overall situation of the financial inclusion ecosystem of Asian sample countries, according to the BFA.

High performers include China, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Bahrain, and Kazakhstan, said the BFA in a development report, released along with the index.

Through continuous reform, China has built up a diversified and widely-covered financial inclusion institutional system, said Zhou Xiaochuan, BFA vice chairman and former governor of China's central bank.

Zhou suggested that Asian countries can strengthen cross-country comparisons and exchange of experiences, deepen understanding of financial inclusion, and promote best practices.

More efforts need to be made to keep financial institutions, which originate from and serve the grassroots, viable and sustainable to provide a broad spectrum of financial services to small and medium-sized enterprises, and vulnerable groups, he said.

The BFA report highlighted practices such as China's efforts in developing financial inclusions from the aspects of national strategy, monetary credit supply, fiscal and tax policies, governance framework, and institutional capacity, as well as the experience of Mongolia and the Republic of Korea in promoting financial literacy, insurance awareness, and the protection of people.

The report also put forward policy recommendations, including building a healthy digital financial inclusion ecosystem, and making good use of regional and global cooperation initiatives, such as the Belt and Road Initiative, to achieve common growth.