Chongqing - Chongqing's first comprehensive local financial regulation took effect this month, establishing a legal framework for supervising local financial institutions, preventing risks, and supporting the city's push to become a financial center in western China.
The Chongqing Local Financial Regulation, announced at a press conference on March 18, was adopted on November 28, 2025, during the 19th meeting of the sixth session of the city's legislature. Officials described it as the first local financial law enacted in China after the Central Economic Work Conference, a high-level national meeting that sets policy direction for the financial sector held in 2023.
Jiangbeizui Financial City in Chongqing Liangjiang New Area. (Photo/Tang Anbing)
According to Yin Jie, deputy director of Chongqing Municipal Bureau of Justice, the legislative process began in 2019. After years of research and consultation, the proposal was included in the 2025 legislative plans of both the municipal government and the local legislature. It was submitted for review in July 2025 and passed in November.
Yin said the drafting team collected more than 500 suggestions through consultations with lawmakers, political advisers, legal experts, grassroots legislative contact points, government agencies, industry associations, local financial firms, and financial consumers. Public comments were also solicited through the government website. Officials conducted field research at local financial companies, including microloan and commercial factoring firms, and held regional discussion sessions in Liangjiang New Area, Wanzhou and Bishan.
The regulation contains 51 articles in seven chapters. According to Li Yuan, deputy director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the Chongqing Municipal People's Congress, it is designed around three goals: safeguarding local financial security, maintaining financial stability, and serving the economy.
The law defines eight categories of supervised institutions, including microloan companies, financing guarantee firms, pawnshops, financial leasing companies, commercial factoring companies, local asset management companies, regional equity markets and local trading venues engaged in equity and bulk commodity transactions. It also covers other financial business entities authorized by the state for local oversight.
A key feature is its full-chain risk management framework covering prevention, monitoring, and response. Local financial organizations must report major risk events within 24 hours. The regulation also introduces an early-warning mechanism and incorporates crackdowns on illegal financial activity into broader public security governance. Authorities are empowered to suspend part of a firm's business or restrict the scale and methods of fund use.
Consumer protection is another major component. The regulation requires firms to clearly disclose business scope, prohibited activities, fees, and interest rates. It requires both companies and regulators to establish complaint and dispute-resolution mechanisms.
The regulation also includes a chapter on building the Western Financial Center, in line with national plans for the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle, a regional development strategy linking Chongqing with neighboring Sichuan province. It supports the development of banks, securities, insurance, futures and fund institutions, encourages domestic and foreign financial firms to establish functional headquarters in Chongqing, and backs the growth of regional equity markets.
Chen Zhi, deputy director of Chongqing Local Financial Supervision and Administration, said the city will build a supporting regulatory system around the new law, including one major normative document, two supporting systems, and eight sector-specific implementation rules.
By December 2025, Chongqing had 466 local financial corporate entities, with registered capital of 192.43 billion yuan (about 27.94 billion U.S. dollars) and total assets of 313.97 billion yuan, according to officials. Authorities said the new regulation is expected to strengthen financial governance and support the city's broader economic development goals.