China resolutely advances opening-up of financial sector: central bank governor

BEIJING - China has been resolutely pushing forward the opening-up of the financial industry, as part of its efforts to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, said Yi Gang, governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC).

Considering the financial sector as one of the competitive service industries, the PBOC insists on widening market access and removing unnecessary restrictions, Yi wrote in an article published in the China Finance, a PBOC-affiliated magazine.

The country's financial opening-up has been running at full tilt in recent years, Yi said, citing more than 50 opening-up measures such as scraping foreign ownership caps on various financial institutions in fields including banks, securities, funds, futures and insurance.

China has launched Shanghai-Hong Kong, Shenzhen-Hong Kong, Shanghai-London stock connect programs, as well as the Bond Connect program.

As of the first half of 2020, the yuan-assets held by international institutions had reached 6.4 trillion yuan.

At present, the country is transforming toward the full implementation of the "pre-establishment national treatment plus negative list" management system for foreign investment, Yi said.

Meanwhile, the PBOC has strengthened the monitoring on cross-border capital flows to prevent the transimission of financial risks, he said.