China’s Central Bank wants to regulate fintech like banking

November 8, 2017

BEIJING - Financial technology (fintech) companies, especially the sizable ones, should fall under the same risk assessment framework as banks, an official from China’s central bank said. “Systemically important financial institutions do not necessarily have to be traditional financial institutions,” Sun Guofeng, Head of PBOC’s finance research institute, said, according to a Caixin report.

Regulators have been “exercising tolerance” toward fintech firms to encourage innovation and improve the financial system’s competitiveness, Sun said. The actions of some large fintech firms could have an impact on the health of the entire financial system, he added.

The Caixin report said China’s financial system is dominated by banks, so increasing sources of competition could make the entire system more efficient, but at the same time many risks were exposed and left unattended.  www.webershandwick.cn (ATI).