Second meeting of the China-EU Working Group on Financial Cooperation

After the inaugural meeting in Beijing of 18 and 19 March 2024, the EU‑China Working Group on Financial Regulatory Cooperation held its second meeting on 13 and 14 May in Brussels, under the co‑chairmanship of Vice‑Governor Xuan Changneng of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) and John Berrigan, Director‑General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA, European Commission).

The two‑day meeting gathered senior officials from the PBoC, the National Financial Regulatory Administration, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange and on the EU side from DG FISMA, the European Central Bank, the European Bank Authority, the European Securities Markets Authority, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and the European Single Resolution Board.

Financial authorities from both sides exchanged views about the respective macro‑economic and financial stability situations in the current unstable global economic environment. Discussions on financial regulatory cooperation covered operating conditions for banks, insurance companies, asset managers and leasing companies, and supervisory frameworks. The Working Group discussed extensively financial markets issues and exchanged views on topics related to sustainable finance, cross‑border data transfers and payments, central counterparty (CCP) equivalence. Both sides took stock of the good progress achieved on a number of the issues discussed at the first meeting of the Working Group, confirming the importance of the Working Group as a channel of policy communication between China and the EU, a forum for discussion of global economic and financial trends and a platform for identifying practical solutions. Both sides agreed to follow up and work on remaining issues with a view to making further progress which will be reported to the High‑level Economic and Trade Dialogue between China and the EU.

An EU‑China roundtable which gathered financial institutions from both sides was held back‑to‑back with the Working Group meeting. The discussion explored how best to support servicing corporate customers and investors in each other’s jurisdiction, through increased market access and cooperation.