Official calls for cooperation, innovation in financial sector

The head of China's primary financial regulator, Li Yunze, met with provincial Party and government leaders in Jiangxi and Anhui provinces from Sept 15 to 17, to discuss boosting financial support for technological and industrial innovation, advancing manufacturing upgrades, and improving coordination between central and local regulators.

Li, minister of the National Financial Regulatory Administration and secretary of the Communist Party of China NFRA Committee, also conducted on-site inspections of enterprises and projects, solicited opinions from various stakeholders, and explored approaches to advance related work.

Li held separate meetings with senior officials of the CPC Jiangxi Provincial Committee and government, as well as their counterparts in Anhui. He emphasized that the NFRA will fully implement the guiding principles of the Central Financial Work Conference in 2023.

The NFRA will shoulder responsibilities together with local authorities, work toward common goals, and direct banks and insurers to increase financial support for key sectors and weak links in the economy, according to Li, while striving to prevent and mitigate financial risks to better serve high-quality local economic and social development.

In Jiangxi, Li inspected innovation in LED lighting technology and the development of the LED industrial cluster. He emphasized the need to guide banks and insurers to tailor financial products and services to local conditions, better support advanced manufacturing and strategic emerging industries, and actively promote the digital and intelligent transformation of traditional industries, thereby contributing to the building of a modern industrial system.

In Anhui, Li visited the Anhui Innovation Pavilion and carried out field visits to enterprises and projects in clean energy, quantum technology, and integrated circuits. He highlighted the importance of advancing pilot programs for merger and acquisition loans for tech enterprises, comprehensive trials for intellectual property finance, equity investment by financial asset investment companies, and reforms in long-term investments of insurance funds.

He also called for the exploration of the development of technology insurance and delivering high-quality financial services to support the implementation of major national strategies and key security capabilities. According to Li, these measures would help create a technology finance system that aligns with technological innovation, which would bolster high-level self-reliance in science and technology, and accelerate the cultivation of new quality productive forces.

Li also visited local NFRA offices in several cities across Jiangxi and Anhui to learn about grassroots regulatory work. He stressed the importance of the officials' responsibilities, noting that the fulfilment of their duties in risk prevention and resolution, financial consumer protection, and safeguarding against illegal financial activities, is crucial to the effectiveness of financial regulation.

jiangxueqing@chinadaily.com.cn