China's central bank unveils eight major financial opening-up measures at 2025 Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai

At the opening ceremony of the 2025 Lujiazui Forum held in Shanghai on Wednesday, People's Bank of China (PBC) Governor Pan Gongsheng announced eight significant measures to further open China's financial market and strengthen Shanghai's position as an international financial center. 

The measures include establishing an interbank market trade repository to systematically collect and analyze transaction data across various financial sub-markets including bonds, currencies, derivatives, gold and bills to further enhance services for financial institutions while backing up macroeconomic regulation and financial market supervision.

And, a digital yuan international operation center will be set up to advance the currency's global usage and facilitate development of digital currency innovation, the PBC head said.

To improve China's credit system, licensed personal credit agencies will be introduced to provide diversified credit services to financial institutions.

To ramp up trade liberalization, Shanghai's Lingang New Area will launch a pilot program for offshore trade financial services, implementing innovative business rules to support offshore trade development, the PBC head noted.

The measures also include developing free trade offshore bonds to broaden financial channels for Chinese enterprises expanding overseas and Belt and Road partner companies to access financing, as well as upgrading free trade account functions to enable smoother cross-border capital flows for qualified businesses and promote trade and investment liberalization.

The PBC will support Shanghai in piloting innovative structural monetary policy tools, including various relending programs, expanding carbon reduction support instruments, and facilitating private equity institutions' issuance of technology innovation bonds. 

Lastly, the central bank, in cooperation with the China Securities Regulatory Commission will study and promote the trading of yuan foreign-exchange futures, helping financial institutions and foreign trade enterprises to manage exchange rate risks more conveniently.