“In recent years, we have worked to improve rules, regulations, and management standards, and to enhance the pre-establishment national treatment plus negative list management model. Restrictive measures in the banking and insurance sectors have been largely eliminated, said Li Yunze, Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA).
“Going forward, we will actively replicate and promote the practices and experiences of pilot free trade zones and the Hainan Free Trade Port, and expand institutional opening-up. We will support foreign financial institutions in participating in more financial business pilots, benchmark against high-standard international economic and trade agreements in the financial sector, and explore broader and deeper opening-up,” said Li in a keynote speech at the 2025 Lujiazui Forum on June 18, 2025.
He emphasized that no matter how the international situation changes, China’s resolve to advance high-level opening-up in the financial sector will not waver; the determination to build a mutually beneficial and win-win financial development landscape will not change; and the commitment to promoting a more inclusive international financial system will remain steadfast.
The NFRA will further broaden and deepen financial sector opening-up to inject more vitality and momentum into high-quality development, Li added.
According to Li, the authorities will continue to make efforts to optimize the business environment for foreign capital, accelerate the legal development of the financial sector, uphold fair market order, and foster a transparent, stable, and predictable policy environment.
A regular communication mechanism with foreign financial institutions will be established to better understand their actual needs and to address bottlenecks and pain points, and meanwhile, policies will be refined in a timely manner based on the business characteristics and risk profiles of foreign institutions, allowing them to fully leverage their strengths and develop healthily in a more friendly and inclusive environment, contributing jointly to a global financial security framework, said Li.
In addition, he noted that China will actively participate in the formulation and maintenance of international financial regulatory rules, and will steadily advance the implementation of Basel III, the new accounting standards for the insurance industry, and other international regulatory frameworks.
China will continue to push forward international financial regulatory reforms, support international financial organizations in playing a full role in improving global financial governance, strengthen multilateral and bilateral regulatory coordination, promote cross-border supervision and crisis management cooperation, and contribute more to global financial stability, he noted.
At the forum, Li also outlined the current state of China’s economic development. “China is making continuous breakthroughs in frontier science and technology, with innovations emerging in aerospace, quantum technology, artificial intelligence, and other fields, making the country one of the most dynamic global innovation hubs.”
“In recent years, some international investment institutions have reaped significant returns from investing in Chinese tech companies, and more investors are becoming optimistic about China’s technological development potential. The NFRA is advancing pilot programs for financial asset investment companies (AICs) to engage in equity investment and loans for tech company mergers and acquisitions, exploring new paths for the development of technology finance,” Li said.
He also revealed that the NFRA, together with the Shanghai Municipal Government, will issue the Action Plan to Support the Development of Shanghai as an International Financial Center, launching a series of policies, inclouding supporting qualified national banks in setting up AICs in Shanghai and approving AIA and Nationale-Nederlanden to establish insurance asset management companies in the city.
In the field of retirement finance, Li noted that China’s aging population is accelerating, with the number of people aged 60 and above expected to exceed 400 million by 2035, and the silver economy may reach a scale of 30 trillion yuan.
China’s three-pillar pension system remains imbalanced, particularly with the third pillar still in its early stages, presenting significant potential and room for development, and in recent years, regulators have promoted the development of a multi-level, multi-pillar pension insurance system, and have gradually expanded pilots for pension wealth management products, pension savings, exclusive commercial pension insurance, and annuity products, achieving initial results, Li said.
He expressed hope that more foreign institutions will participate in these pilots and leverage their expertise in product design, actuarial science, and investment management to share in the development dividends of China’s pension market.
Regarding wealth management, Li said that China has the world’s largest and continuously expanding middle-income population, providing a massive and stable client base for the wealth management industry, and in terms of financial asset allocation, Chinese households currently hold over half of their wealth in cash and savings, far above the OECD average of about one-third.
As household wealth continues to accumulate, demand for wealth management is shifting toward more diversified and professional asset allocation, and over the past five years, the assets under trust, wealth management, and insurance asset management in China have grown at an average annual rate of about 8%, making China the world’s second-largest asset and wealth management market.
“We support foreign institutions in expanding their presence in wealth management, asset allocation, and insurance planning, to better meet clients’ comprehensive financial needs such as wealth preservation and appreciation, and to promote the quality and upgrading of the wealth management industry,” he said.
