Financial oversight becomes a main priority

By Chen Jia

On Nov 8, China launched the Financial Stability and Development Committee, a new Cabinet-level financial regulatory body, to safeguard the inflated financial sector and coordinate macroeconomic policy, as risk prevention became the priority task for top regulators in 2017.

The committee held its first plenary meeting on the same day, with Vice-Premier Ma Kai as its head. It approved a list of primary tasks and stressed the need to strengthen coordination of financial regulations and improve its ability to handle risks.

The committee reiterated that the financial sector should better serve the real economy. The People's Bank of China, the central bank, will play a dominant role in financial regulation, assuming responsibility for the committee's office and leading coordination work with three other special regulatory bodies for banking, securities and insurance.

The major tasks include drafting significant plans for financial reform and development, analyzing the operational condition of the financial system, controlling financial risks and assessing the committee's operations.

In the coming months, financial deleveraging will remain one of the policy priorities to prevent systemic risks, so financial regulation is expected to further crack down on shadow banking, curb illegal and high-risk nonbank lending, and improve oversight of the development of financial technology.