The State Council Information Office holds a press conference on implementing the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) in the financial sector and building China into a financial powerhouse in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 10, 2026. (Photo/Xinhua)
Beijing - China has issued a plan to strengthen its financial sector during 2026-2030, focusing on preventing financial risks, strengthening financial supervision, and promoting high-quality development.
The office of the Central Financial Commission formulated the plan in coordination with relevant financial authorities, said Lu Lei, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), at a press conference on Thursday.
By 2030, China aims to put in place the overall framework of a modern financial system with Chinese characteristics, ensure that financial regulation policies are well coordinated and effective, optimize the structure of the financial system, ensure rigorous and effective financial supervision, and make financial risk prevention and control targeted and efficient, according to the plan.
Other goals for 2030 include continued improvements in the quality and effectiveness of financial support for economic and social development, a comprehensive legal framework for the financial sector, steady expansion of high-standard financial opening up, and continued increases in the sector's international influence and competitiveness.
The plan aims to largely establish a highly adaptive, competitive, and inclusive modern financial system with Chinese characteristics by 2035, laying a solid foundation for further boosting China's strength in finance.
Key tasks outlined in the plan include improving the financial macro-regulation system, strengthening financial supervision, effectively preventing and defusing financial risks, serving the real economy more proactively and effectively, promoting high-quality development of the financial sector, and expanding high-standard financial opening up.
Monetary policy framework
Regarding monetary policy, Lu said China will continue to transform and improve its monetary policy framework to better adapt it to the profound changes in the country's economic and financial structures.
The PBOC, China's central bank, will remain firmly committed to maintaining currency value stability and thereby promoting economic growth and providing effective support for the high-quality development of the real economy. It will enhance its base money supply mechanism and reserve requirement system, and conduct open market operations with greater flexibility and precision, Lu said.
China will maintain its managed floating exchange rate system, allow the market to play a decisive role in exchange rate formation, and guard against herd behavior and the self-reinforcement of irrational expectations, he said.
The central bank will also improve monetary policy communication and expectations management, further develop credible, regular and institutionalized policy communication mechanisms, and make monetary policy communication easier to understand and more authoritative.
A stronger, more inclusive capital market
China will accelerate a new round of capital market reform and opening up and strive to establish a new pattern of high-quality development and achieve marked improvements in the market's overall strength and international competitiveness by 2030, the 40th anniversary of the establishment of China's capital market, said Li Chao, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, at the press conference.
The securities regulator will introduce more inclusive rules for stock issuance and listings and for mergers and acquisitions, and work to make the A-share market the preferred listing venue for high-quality domestic companies, Li said.
Since the beginning of the year, medium- and long-term funds, including social security funds, annuity funds and insurance funds, have purchased more than 600 billion yuan (about 88.4 billion U.S. dollars) worth of A-shares on a net basis. The market value of their holdings of tradable A-shares has increased 12.5 percent since the end of 2025, Li said.
Financial stability and opening up
In the banking and insurance sectors, China will prudently prevent and control risks in key areas, take forceful, orderly and effective steps to prevent and defuse risks at local small and medium-sized financial institutions, and firmly guard against major risk events, said Cong Lin, deputy head of the National Financial Regulatory Administration.
Financial institutions will be guided to shift from a model of scale-driven, high-speed expansion to one focused on quality and performance, while strong action will be taken against price wars, illegal commission rebates and practices involving excessively high interest rates and returns, Cong said.
Cong said differentiated measures will be taken to optimize the system of financial institutions, clarify the permitted scope of business and prohibited conduct for different types of institutions, and guide them to focus on their core businesses and pursue differentiated development. These steps aim to enhance the adaptability and competitiveness of the financial system.
China has achieved basic convertibility for direct investment transactions, said Li Bin, deputy head and spokesperson of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.
Cross-border securities investment arrangements now include institutional investor programs, market connectivity mechanisms and direct access to domestic markets for overseas investors, while all forms of cross-border financing are subject to macro-prudential management, Li said.
More broadly, during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), China's banking and insurance sectors provided more than 170 trillion yuan in additional financing support to the real economy through loans, bonds and equity, while the broader financial sector advanced reform and opening up, strengthened supervision and made progress in addressing risks in key areas, officials said at Thursday's press conference.
China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) calls for accelerating the development of a modern financial system with Chinese characteristics. The plan emphasizes aligning the growth of social financing and the money supply with targets for economic growth and overall price levels, as well as increasing the flexibility of the renminbi exchange rate while maintaining its basic stability at an adaptive and balanced level.
It also calls for expanding patient capital, improving the supporting system for the entry of medium- and long-term funds into the capital market, and strengthening financial supervision and the prevention and resolution of financial risks.