China unveils measures to expand financial opening up

BEIJING, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday revealed a guideline, outlining 20 measures to expand financial opening up in the country's pilot free trade zones and a free trade port.

These measures, focusing on six areas, aim to better align China's financial sector with international standards and advance institutional opening up of the sector, said the guideline jointly issued by the People's Bank of China, the Ministry of Commerce and three other government bodies.

According to this document, foreign financial institutions will be granted the same treatment as their Chinese counterparts when providing new financial services not available in the country at that stage.

Valid applications filed by financial institutions and cross-border financial service providers concerning financial services will be processed within 120 days, as per the document.

The country will also support the purchase of certain types of cross-border financial services, facilitate the inbound and outbound fund transfers related to foreign investment, improve arrangements for cross-border flow of financial data, and strengthen regulation of this sector, the guideline said.

These measures will be implemented in pilot free trade zones in Shanghai, Guangdong, Tianjin, Fujian and Beijing, as well as the Hainan Free Trade Port and other important cooperative platforms.

At the Central Economic Work Conference held last month, China's policymakers stressed the need to expand high-standard opening up and keep foreign trade and foreign investment stable.

China will steadily enhance institutional opening up and improve the quality and efficiency of pilot free trade zones, according to the conference.