(Economic Observation) How does China create an "institutional highland" for the trillion-dollar asset management market?
China News Agency, Beijing, July 7 (Reporter Wang Enbo) Since the introduction of China's new asset management regulations in 2018, how this huge market with a scale of RMB 100 billion has been the subject of much attention. Several experts pointed out in an online meeting on the 7th that the current health of China's asset management industry is constantly improving, and how to create an "institutional highland" will become the next challenge.
The China Wealth Management 50 Forum (CWM50) and Tsinghua University’s Wudaokou School of Finance held a press conference on the “China Asset Management Business Regulatory Research Report” on the same day. The report pointed out that the generation and development of large asset management business conforms to the strong financing needs and the increasing demand for wealth management of residents during the rapid development of the real economy, and has played an important role in promoting China's social and economic development.
However, due to the failure of the regulatory system and the regulatory system to keep up with business development in a timely manner, the asset management business lacked clear legal definitions, independent system specifications, and clear regulatory boundaries. Under the system of “separate operations and separate supervision” divided by institutional supervision rather than functional supervision, some financial institutions package various financial businesses in the name of asset management business, resulting in irregularities and distortions in the business, and thus gathering Risk.
Shang Fulin, director of the CPPCC Economic Committee and chairman of the CWM50, bluntly stated that during the rapid expansion of the asset management business in the early stage, violations such as nested investments, maturity mismatches, regulatory arbitrage, and even market chaos have been exposed, accumulating financial risks. Increased the instability of the financial system and affected the external impression of the industry.
Against this background, in recent years, the asset management industry has become a key area for the Chinese government to prevent and resolve financial risks and rectify financial market chaos. In particular, the introduction of new regulations on asset management has refreshed the market outlook and established a unified regulatory framework for the industry. As various regulatory authorities continue to improve standard regulations and related supporting details, the space for circumventing macro-control and seeking regulatory arbitrage has been basically eliminated.
In terms of industry governance and chaos rectification, shadow banking risks are released at a high level, and cross-financial risks continue to converge. Since 2017, China has cumulatively compressed cross-finance high-risk assets by about 16 trillion yuan. The interbank channel business in the trust industry has fallen by nearly 5 trillion yuan from the historical peak. Significantly reduced.
After undergoing "barbarous growth" and heavy fist governance, the transformation and development of China's asset management industry has entered a critical period, and the task challenge is still arduous.
"Global capital flows will eventually choose institutional highlands, and risks will remain in institutional depressions. The ultimate point of competition among major powers is the institutions." Wu Xiaoling, Chairman of the School of Finance at Tsinghua University and General Counselor of CWM50, pointed out that compared with developed countries in China's financial industry In addition to the gap between talent training and technology utilization, financial legal system and financial rules are also major shortcomings.
Wu Xiaoling specifically mentioned that due to differences in national conditions and concepts, some financial concepts in China are vague, and there are certain differences from the international community. In the future, such conceptual differences should be eliminated as much as possible, or defined in light of China's actual situation. This is the basic work to improve the financial legal system and achieve the integration of relevant rules with international standards.
According to Wu Xiaoqiu, vice president of Renmin University of China, the risk structure of the asset management market is shifting from the original single institutional risk to both institutional and market risks. The importance of market transparency and information disclosure supervision continues to increase, so regulatory reform is also imperative. . In this process, the consistency, uniformity and standardization of regulatory policies, especially the identification of related concepts must be very standardized, which is conducive to the overall development of the asset management business.
In view of the current complex situation of continued slowdown in global economic growth and continued pressure on the domestic economy, Shang Fulin believes that asset management business supervision must also grasp an effective balance between ensuring growth and preventing risks.
On the one hand, it will continue to maintain its regulatory strength, resolutely crack down on illegal activities in key areas such as shadow banking and illegal financial activities, consolidate the results of early governance and prevent risk rebound. At the same time, it is also necessary to position and fundamentally serve the investment and financing needs of the real economy, accelerate the transformation of the asset management industry, enhance the adaptability and flexibility of the real economy, and better serve the overall situation of China's economic and social development. (Finish)