Financial infrastructure is the key node of the modern financial system
Financial infrastructure, in a narrow sense, is equivalent to financial market infrastructure, focusing on the hardware facilities of financial market transactions; Broadly speaking, financial infrastructure involves all aspects of financial stability operation, including financial market hardware facilities, financial laws and regulations, accounting systems, information disclosure principles, social credit environment and other institutional arrangements. As an important component of the national financial system, financial infrastructure plays a vital role in connecting financial institutions, ensuring the operation of the market, serving the real economy, and preventing financial risks. The level of its construction and development is directly related to whether the financial function can be better played and the high-quality development of China's economy can be promoted.
Since the reform and opening up, China's financial industry has made great progress and made important contributions to the development of the national economy. However, we must also see that there are still structural weaknesses on the financial supply side. As for financial infrastructure, its development speed and reform depth are obviously lagging behind the construction of modern financial institutions and financial markets, and it is difficult to meet the growing needs of the people for diversified financial services, and it is difficult to meet the requirements of high-quality economic development. At present, we are firmly advancing the structural reform of the financial supply side and accelerating the construction of financial infrastructure. This is not only an inevitable requirement for guiding the financial sector to return to serving the essence of the real economy and promoting high-quality economic development, but also an important guarantee for preventing and defusing financial risks.
It should be noted that financial infrastructure, as the key node of the modern financial system, plays an irreplaceable and important role in the construction of the modern economic system.
First, a sound financial infrastructure is the "ballast" to ensure the healthy operation of the financial system. Financial infrastructure provides basic guarantee for the stable and efficient operation of financial markets. Hardware facilities such as trading platforms, payment systems and settlement systems and soft constraints such as laws and regulations and accounting principles play a very important role in the financial system. They coordinate and cooperate with each other to jointly create a good financial ecology and support the normal functioning of the financial system.
Second, an efficient financial infrastructure is a "catalyst" for the development of a market economy. As the carrier of the price discovery mechanism of financial instruments, financial infrastructure can improve the allocation efficiency of financial resources by matching transactions through market-based means such as recording information and centralized quotation. At the same time, an efficient financial infrastructure can fully mobilize market liquidity and dredge the transmission channel of monetary policy.
Third, advanced financial infrastructure is a "booster" to improve the quality of financial services. Information asymmetry is one of the deep reasons for the "difficult loan" of small and micro enterprises and the "difficult loan" of banks. Advanced financial infrastructure can make up for this market defect, through the establishment of government-led public credit information service platform, strengthen the government, banking, enterprise investment and financing information sharing, effectively improve the efficiency of financial services to the real economy.
Fourth, standardized financial infrastructure is the "separation wall" to ensure national financial security. Experience shows that the outbreak of several international financial crises in history is related to the imperfect and incomplete financial infrastructure. At present, regulatory authorities in many countries have reached a consensus that the financial infrastructure has a responsibility to participate in assisting risk management, and is an important starting point for implementing macro-prudential management and strengthening risk prevention and control.
It can be said that financial infrastructure is the core of the entire financial ecology, supporting the operation of the financial system and forming the spillover of economic value. Whether from a policy perspective or a functional perspective, accelerating the construction of financial infrastructure is an inevitable choice to deepen the structural reform of the financial supply side, and it is also the only way to achieve high-quality economic development.
The achievements and shortcomings of China's financial infrastructure construction
For a long time, China has attached importance to the construction and development of financial infrastructure, and the continuous improvement of financial infrastructure has provided important support for the stable and efficient operation of financial markets. But at the same time, there are still shortcomings in the effective supply of financial infrastructure, and the regulatory environment needs to be improved. In order to better promote the high-quality development of the financial industry, build a financial power, make up for the shortcomings of financial infrastructure construction, and improve the weak links in the supervision of financial infrastructure, it has become the focus of the reform of the financial sector at present and in the future.
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