China-EU financial cooperation set to improve

The China-EU Working Group on Financial Cooperation has held its first meeting in Beijing from Monday to Tuesday, a sign that China-EU financial regulatory cooperation is poised to gather steam.

The two-day meeting gathered senior officials from both Chinese and EU financial authorities. Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People's Bank of China, and Jorge Toledo, ambassador of the European Union to China, delivered opening remarks.

During the meeting, both sides exchanged views about the respective macroeconomic and financial stability situations, as well as on the regulatory and supervisory architecture in place in China and the EU, said a PBOC statement on Wednesday.

Discussions on financial regulatory cooperation covered operating and supervisory conditions, market access issues for banks, insurance and leasing companies, and anti-money laundering, the statement said.

The working group also discussed capital market issues, sustainable finance, cross-border data transfers and cross-border payments, as well as central clearing counterparty equivalence. 

Both sides agreed to follow up on a number of those issues and preferably come up with tangible deliverables before the next meeting of the working group.