A number of policies have been introduced to improve the top-level design——

Strengthen the bond market's ability to serve the real economy

  Our reporter Chen Guojing

  In the recent period, a number of policies to promote the unification of the bond market's institutional rules and promote the high-quality development of the bond market have been accelerated.

  Recently, the People's Bank of China, in conjunction with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Reform and Opening up of the Corporate Credit Bond Market for High-Quality Development."

Prior to this, the "Notice on Promoting the Healthy Development of the Bond Market Credit Rating Industry" issued on August 6 regulated the bond market's rating agencies.

The "Administrative Measures for the Information Disclosure of Corporate Credit Bonds", the "Notice on Matters Concerning the Disposal of Default on Corporate Credit Bonds", and the interconnection and cooperation between banks and exchange bond market-related infrastructure institutions, all focus on the pain points and difficulties in the development of the bond market The problem has made targeted arrangements.

  Many industry insiders and experts believe that the accelerated implementation of this series of policies will help improve the top-level design of the bond market, break through market obstructions, and strengthen the bond market's ability and level to serve the real economy.

  The inconsistency of rules caused by market segmentation is a problem that my country’s bond market has been facing for many years.

After my country's bond market has developed into the world's second largest bond market, it is inevitable to move from segmentation to unification.

  The corporate credit bond market is an important channel for direct financing and has played an important role in meeting the financing needs of the real economy and enriching the financing channels of the real economy.

Liu Muhan, an analyst at Oriental Jincheng's Research and Development Department, believes that some of the systems introduced by various market regulatory authorities have been unable to meet the financing needs of the rapid development of the market, and to a certain extent have hindered the free flow and effective distribution of bond market elements.

  Therefore, multiple ministries and commissions jointly issued the "Opinions" to promote the overall linkage reform of the bond market from the perspective of improving the top-level design of the bond market.

"Corporate credit bond market legal system construction and basic systems will usher in a'great unification'." Liu Muhan believes that because the bond market is in a relatively fragmented state, different markets are applicable to different upper-level laws.

The "Opinions" clarified the relevant requirements of the bond market legal system, clearly stated that the company law and the securities law are the basic laws of the corporate credit bond market, and stated that "promoting civil and commercial trials is important for corporate bonds, non-financial corporate debt financing instruments, and corporate debt financing instruments. Bonds are subject to the same legal standards", which has laid a solid legal foundation for the unification of the exchange and the inter-bank bond market.

  On the basis of a unified upper law, the relevant rules and standards will also move towards uniformity.

The "Opinions" further clarified and promoted the gradual unification of various rules and standards such as corporate credit bond market issuance, trading, information disclosure, and investor protection.

For example, in the registration and issuance phases, the relevant standards for issuance registration are unified and regulated, the excessive issuance of bonds by highly leveraged companies is clearly restricted, the management of bond raised funds is strengthened, and structured bond issuance is prohibited.

In another example, the "Opinions" clarified that it will gradually unify bond issuance transaction coding rules to facilitate cross-market transactions and circulation.

  Liu Muhan believes that this series of measures will help promote the free flow of capital and other factors between markets, improve the efficiency of the bond market, and provide more high-quality and convenient services for direct financing of the real economy.

  As an important part of the market, the standardized development of rating agencies is closely related to the high-quality development of the bond market.

  In recent years, my country’s rating industry has achieved rapid development, but there are problems such as false high ratings, insufficient discrimination, and weak pre-warning functions. It is difficult to fundamentally solve the problem of relying on the development of rating agencies alone, which further restricts the growth of my country’s bond market. Quality development.

  Therefore, the "Opinions" put forward requirements on the rating industry from the five aspects of rating method system, rating agency corporate governance, information disclosure, rating ecology and rating supervision, clearly proposed unified rating standards, and promoted the formation of a differentiated rating standard system.

In addition, on August 11, the Central Bank decided to cancel the credit rating requirements of non-financial corporate debt financing instruments on a pilot basis, which aroused great concern in the industry.

  Zhu Wenjie, general manager of ChinaBond Credit Coordination Development Department, said that a series of ratings industry policies recently released conform to the needs of my country's bond market reform and opening up for high-quality development and standardized development of the rating industry under the new situation. Question, put forward specific measures and requirements, with strong forward-looking, systematic and pertinent.

  What impact will the implementation of the policy have on rating agencies?

Wu Yuhui, professor of finance at the School of Management of Xiamen University, believes that in the short term, credit rating agencies will be under greater pressure. Part of the pressure comes from the reduction in income that may result from the abolition of mandatory credit ratings, and the other part comes from the ratings that may be caused by the opening up and deregulation. As the number of institutions increases, market share may be affected.

However, in the medium and long term, this is good for the development of the industry. As excellent rating agencies gradually emerge from market competition and gain the trust of the market and investors, market share and high-level talents will gradually gather in them, while low reputation Rating agencies will gradually be eliminated by the market.

  "Rating agencies need to work harder to practice internal skills." Zhu Wenjie believes that in the face of higher expectations from all parties in the market, rating agencies need to continue to strengthen their own construction, pay attention to reputation accumulation, continuously improve technical systems, upgrade rating models, enrich data accumulation, and effectively strengthen talents Cultivate and improve the echelon building, further improve the internal control management mechanism, continuously improve the ability of risk warning and disclosure, and promote the return of the rating industry to a healthy competition centered on rating quality.

  Liu Muhan said that with the credit stratification of the bond market, the enrichment of investors with different risk preferences, and the improvement of the default resolution mechanism, the corporate credit bond market will enter a unified and standardized high-quality development stage.

The function of the bond market to serve the real economy will continue to be strengthened, thereby further enriching the real economy, especially the financing channels for small, medium and micro enterprises.