Latest China-US Financial Working Group meeting sends positive signals amid uncertainties

The China-US Financial Working Group held its sixth meeting in Washington in October and exchanged views on the economic situation and financial policies, a move experts said has sent a signal of maintaining consistent bilateral financial cooperation amid lingering uncertainties.

Financial regulators of the two sides had "professional, pragmatic, candid and constructive discussions" during the meeting, a statement of the People's Bank of China said, the country's central bank, on Thursday.

The topics discussed covered macroeconomic and financial developments, monetary and financial policy, financial stability and regulation, capital market, anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism. The two sides also exchanged views on other financial policy topics.

The meeting was co-chaired by PBOC Deputy Governor Xuan Changneng and Brent Neiman, assistant secretary of the US Department of the Treasury, with relevant financial regulators participating. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also met with the Chinese delegation.

Liu Chunsheng, an associate professor at the Central University of Finance and Economics' School of International Trade and Economics, said the latest meeting shows the willingness of the world's two biggest economies to maintain communication in the financial field even in the period of political uncertainties, sending a positive signal of jointly safeguarding global financial and economic stability.

At the meeting, the PBOC also introduced the recent package of financial policies to support robust economic growth, including the two new PBOC facilities — the securities, funds and insurance companies swap facility (SFISF) and the central bank's lending facility for share buybacks and shareholding increases — to support the stable development of the capital market.

With China at a key juncture of economic policy adjustments and reform advancements, Liu said that China's efforts to strengthen communication with the United States regarding its financial policy dynamics will help correct any misunderstanding of China's policy stance and intention and therefore achieve better bilateral financial policy coordination.

"Looking ahead, it deserves attention whether the two sides will take concrete actions to strengthen cooperation in the areas of mutual interest," Liu added.

The Chinese side also raised issues of concern to the US side during the meeting. In another meeting of the two countries' economic working group in Washington last week, China expressed concerns about the tariff hikes imposed by the US and Russia-related sanctions, according to China's Ministry of Finance.