China to improve yuan exchange rate formation mechanism
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Regarding the reform of the financial sector, China and the EU jointly formulated the core reform policies and standards for financial supervision and the building of financial infrastructure, which involves creating a prudent macro management framework, strengthening the anti-risk capacity of the banking system, completing the over-the-counter derivatives market and reforming the credit rating system, payment arrangement and accounting standards, Yi said.
In recent years, Chinese and European financial institutions further enhanced the depth and scope of their cooperation.
Besides boosting the rapid growth of bilateral trade investment through trade and project financing, the two sides also saw their financial capital directly invested and take stakes in each other's market.
By the first half of 2010, European banks set up seven corporate banks, 20 bank branches and dozens of representative offices in China, with a total asset value of more than 50 billion euros; nine European financial institutions took the shares of 26 Chinese banks, including the Bank of China (BoC) and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), with a total investment of 11.55 billion dollars.
The European institutions also took the shares of many Chinese security companies, fund management and insurance companies. By the end of August 2010, China has given the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) license to 32 Europe-based institutions.
The entry of European financial capital into China has brought advanced management skills and rich experience.
Meanwhile, Chinese banks are actively exploring the overseas market. BoC opened representative offices in London and Frankfurt, and five leading Chinese banks launched dozens of branches in Europe. ICBC alone has 10 branches in Europe, Yi said.
In the future, Chinese and European financial institutions can strengthen cooperation in the following fields, Yi said.
They can continue to provide financing arrangements for bilateral trade and investment, and seek cooperation opportunities in the fields of service rearrangement, optimizing revenue-earning structure, increasing capital strength and improving the risk-sharing system.
They are also advised to explore the research, development and innovation of financial instruments and develop financial hedging devices that meet the needs of the Chinese and European markets.
The China-EU trade from January to November in 2010 amounted to 433.88 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 33.1 percent and up 10.4 percent from the same period of 2008, Yi said.
Bilateral trade volume for 2010 is expected to reach 470 billion dollars, he said.
