SCIO briefing about effects of monetary and financial policies on high-quality development of the real economy

Elephant News:

In 2025, the two-way opening-up of China's financial market continued to advance. May I ask what new measures the SAFE will take to enhance capital account opening up and further expand investment and financing facilitation? Thank you.

Li Bin:

This question involves capital account opening up. I'd like to invite Mr. Xiao to answer.

Xiao Sheng:

I'll take your question. The recommendations for the 15th Five-Year Plan call for pursuing greater openness of RMB capital accounts. We will work toward this goal and advance high-standard institutional opening up regarding capital accounts in areas such as direct investment, securities investment and cross-border financing in an orderly manner. The main measures include the following four aspects.

First, we will advance the two-way opening up of the financial market in an orderly manner. Recently, the PBC and the SAFE jointly issued a policy on fund management for domestic enterprises listing overseas, unifying domestic and foreign currency fund management for overseas listings, and supporting enterprises in raising funds efficiently in overseas financial markets. Next, we will further study and optimize the cross-border capital policy for qualified foreign institutional investors (QFII), and continue to allocate qualified domestic institutional investors (QDII) investment quotas in an orderly manner. We will work with relevant departments to advance financial market interconnection mechanisms such as the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, and Bond Connect, continuously enhancing the level of two-way opening-up of the financial market.

Second, we will continue to deepen foreign exchange management reform for cross-border investment and financing. We will further intensify efforts to advance foreign exchange management reform for foreign direct investment, simplify relevant foreign exchange registration procedures, facilitate the payment and use of foreign investment funds, and better support foreign investors in developing their businesses in China. We will revise and introduce measures for the integrated management of domestic and foreign currency for overseas loans granted by domestic enterprises. This will support and facilitate financing for enterprises going global, helping reduce costs and improve efficiency. We will also improve and introduce foreign exchange administration policies for domestic foreign exchange loans to better support enterprises' cross-border trade activities. At the same time, we will prepare a new package of policies and measures to facilitate cross-border investment and financing, further optimize foreign exchange management, and enhance digital services capabilities to better support the real economy's high-quality development.

Third, we will actively enhance our ability to effectively advance the five major areas of finance. In 2025, we upgraded and introduced more convenient cross-border financing policies for high-tech, specialized and innovative, and technology-based SMEs. We also launched a pilot program for green foreign debt financing to support green development and low-carbon transition projects. To date, these policies have helped companies secure nearly $10 billion in financing. Looking ahead, we will continue to focus on technology finance and green finance, further strengthen policy implementation, upgrade and expand pilot programs so that more enterprises can benefit from our policies, and support technological innovation and green, low-carbon development.

Fourth, we will promote and upgrade the policy on multinational corporations' RMB and foreign currency cash pools. In recent years, we have continuously upgraded multinational corporation cash pool policies and strengthened the integration of various types of cash pools. We have formed a multinational corporation cash pool policy framework with unified domestic and foreign currency management and nuanced versions of cash pools. To date, it has benefited more than 1,100 multinational corporations and 19,000 member companies, involving cross-border receipts and payments of $2.1 trillion. Recently, we have extended the integrated RMB and foreign currency cash pool policy for large and super-large multinational corporations nationwide. In 2026, we will extend the centralized cross-border fund operation and management policy to more medium-sized multinational companies nationwide. This will enable more multinationals to conduct cross-border fund operations agilely and efficiently, and support the development of the headquarters economy. Thank you.

Zhou Jianshe:

One last question, please.