We will accelerate the improvement of the financial infrastructure system

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.

At the level of hardware architecture, China has formed a financial infrastructure system with complete categories and orderly supervision. In terms of payment system construction, China has formed a payment system with the modern payment system of the People's Bank of China as the core, and together with the inter-bank payment system, bank card payment system, bill payment system, network payment and clearing system, and cross-border RMB payment system to form a modern payment and clearing network. In terms of securities settlement and depository, China Securities Depository and Clearing Co., LTD., China National Debt Depository and Clearing Co., LTD., and the Interbank Market Clearing House Co., Ltd. jointly provide centralized securities custody and settlement services. In terms of the central counterparty construction, the central counterparty clearing mechanism has been introduced in both the internal and over-the-counter markets in China. In terms of the construction of the transaction report database, China Foreign Exchange Trade Center and China Securities Inter-Institutional Quotation System Co., Ltd. are used as the report database for recording the transaction data of interest rate and foreign exchange OTC derivatives and equity OTC derivatives, respectively. In addition, with reference to the systemic importance of relevant institutions in financial risk prevention, stock exchanges and the "new third Board" have been included in the scope of financial market infrastructure. As the main regulatory bodies of financial market infrastructure, the People's Bank of China and the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) take the initiative to carry out the assessment of financial market infrastructure and jointly maintain the safe and sound operation of financial institutions.

In terms of related system construction, supporting laws and regulations and accounting standards have laid a solid foundation for creating a good financial ecology. In terms of financial legal construction, national laws, administrative regulations, departmental rules, normative documents and relevant judicial interpretations together constitute China's financial legal system and guide the standardized operation of financial market hardware infrastructure. In the construction of accounting standards, actively docking international general standards, vigorously improve the accounting standards of government and enterprise, and strive to promote the construction of accounting information; In terms of the construction of the credit system, the coverage of the credit information system has been continuously expanded, the access of the financial credit basic information database has been increasing, the credit files of small and micro enterprises have been improved, the rural credit system has been gradually established, and the social credit environment has been greatly improved. In terms of anti-money laundering work, relevant departments actively carry out anti-money laundering mutual assessment work, strengthen law enforcement, crack down on criminal acts, deepen international cooperation, and make illegal financing activities nowhere to hide; In the protection of the rights and interests of financial consumers, we will constantly improve the protection system for the rights and interests of consumers, carry out inclusive finance in an orderly manner, steadily promote regulatory assessment, actively strengthen consumer knowledge education, and effectively protect the vital interests of financial consumers from the actual situation.

It should also be noted that at present, China's financial infrastructure construction still has some shortcomings that cannot be ignored. First, in terms of financial supervision, the level of coordination and cooperation between financial supervision departments needs to be improved, the regulatory standards are not consistent enough, and the regulatory level is not clear enough, which is not conducive to the development of financial infrastructure in the direction of centralized, safe and effective, advanced and open. The boundary between financial supervision function and administrative function is not clear. Cross-border supervision still needs to be improved, and with the successive opening of cross-border capital business, the construction of supporting regulatory framework also needs to be put on the agenda. Second, in terms of laws and regulations, there is still a lack of special laws with a dominant and fundamental role. China's legal provisions on financial infrastructure are relatively scattered, vague, and mainly based on administrative norms, lack of clear and enforceable specialized legal basis, at the same time, the implementation mechanism of financial laws is not perfect, and the effectiveness of financial regulations needs to be improved. Third, in terms of institutional operation, the organizational form of non-corporate financial infrastructure is not compatible with market-oriented construction, the current situation of decentralized financial institutions is not compatible with the goal of centralized and unified development, and the quantity and quality of financial infrastructure supply is not compatible with the ever-changing process of financial innovation.

Focus on promoting the construction of financial infrastructure

There is still a long way to go in the construction of China's financial infrastructure, which requires multiple efforts and multi-pronged efforts.

First, strengthen overall supervision and form departmental coordination. The "One Committee, One line and two sessions" should give full play to the overall role of the leadership, and carry out top-level design for financial infrastructure access, governance, operation, risk control, and supervision. The Financial Stability and Development Commission of The State Council is responsible for coordinating financial regulatory reform, coordinating the division of functions, and strengthening macro-prudential and regulatory accountability. While exercising direct supervision over some financial infrastructure, the People's Bank of China should also arrange and implement the supervision work of various departments, delimit and define the scope of supervision, and promote the formation of a financial management system with unified cooperation and clear division of labor. The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBRC) are responsible for microprudential supervision and behavioral supervision of financial infrastructure. Local monetary administrations should take the initiative to do a good job in the supervision of local financial infrastructure and maintain local financial stability. Through coordination and cooperation, various departments form a "national chess game" and jointly build a "safety net" of financial risks.

Second, we should speed up special legislation and improve the legal environment. Financial infrastructure should have a robust, clear, transparent and enforceable legal basis. Therefore, the first is to formulate a comprehensive law to regulate the behavior of financial infrastructure, to make a comprehensive regulation of market access, governance and operation; The second is to formulate special conduct rules for specific financial infrastructure, and refine the supervision classification; The third is to further promote the standardization of financial information legislation, clarify the scope, form and caliber of information collection, dredge the information exchange channels between regulatory departments and financial institutions, and strengthen the judicial protection of financial information; Fourth, strengthen the provision of cross-border regulatory legislation for financial infrastructure, grasp the leading role of international financial regulation, and guard against external risks.

Third, accelerate institutional reform and promote market integration. In order to meet the requirements of modern financial market construction, we should actively guide the reform and transformation of financial institutions, especially non-corporate institutions. At present, the financial futures exchange of China's four major futures exchanges and the national Small and Medium enterprise share transfer System Co., Ltd. are set up according to the company system, which is a beneficial attempt to reform the financial infrastructure system. For the bond market, legislation should also be enacted to unify bond market registration and settlement, custody standards, constantly improve the equity structure of bond market infrastructure, and timely promote the integration of bond market supervision and business integration.

Fourth, increase the supply of facilities and strengthen financial innovation. In theory, the financial market infrastructure is located in the "background" of the financial service system, playing an important low-level service function, and itself is similar to public goods, with a relatively limited supply. While increasing the supply of financial infrastructure, through non-exclusive and non-competitive use, the number of institutions connected to financial market infrastructure is increasing, and market resources can be gathered, resulting in scale effects, market costs will be reduced, and operation efficiency will be improved in a timely manner. To this end, financial innovation needs to be strengthened. On the one hand, financial innovation is a "booster" for the construction of modern financial infrastructure, which can help the growth rate and efficiency of financial institutions. If financial infrastructure is regarded as the "foundation" and "platform" of the financial service system, then scientific and technological means can be regarded as the "beam" and "column" of financial infrastructure construction. Modern financial infrastructure hardware is built on a huge, fast computer network, with the vigorous development of big data, cloud computing, blockchain, artificial intelligence and other emerging technological means, to achieve the perfect fit of "finance + technology" will be the inevitable choice for financial infrastructure construction. On the other hand, the construction of financial infrastructure is an important foundation for the market of financial innovative products, which can ensure the safety and stability of the financial market. In the future, we can consider clarifying the attribution of specific supervision in the field of financial innovation, establishing a self-regulatory industry association, introducing policies and regulations to reasonably guide the direction of market development, building "hard" infrastructure support, improving the industry information statistics system, effectively avoiding risks, and making financial innovation a "power source" for the development of the real economy.