In order to promote the formation of a new pattern of "linkage between land, sea, and domestic, and mutual assistance between east and west" in opening up to the outside world, and to improve the financial service system of the Western Land Sea New Corridor, the People's Bank of China and eight other departments recently jointly issued the "Opinions on Financial Support to Accelerate the Construction of the Western Land Sea New Corridor", proposing 21 key measures to promote the good play of the two core financial functions of "financing" and "settlement", and support the high-quality development of the Western Land Sea New Corridor.

Seize the opportunity

The new land sea channel in the west connects Guangxi Beibu Gulf and the Indian Ocean sea route to the south, and the ancient Silk Road countries in Central Asia to Europe to the west. It is a key node of the "the Belt and Road". Lu Lei, Vice President of the People's Bank of China, said that in terms of financial support for the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road", the key is to promote the continuous expansion of financing, carry out various forms of financial cooperation with relevant countries, and form a financial cooperation network with clear hierarchy and scale. With China's accession to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and increasingly close trade ties with ASEAN countries, high-level two-way financial opening needs to be accelerated. We should seize the opportunity of the construction of the Western Land Sea New Corridor.

In recent years, Chongqing, as the logistics and operation organization center of the Western Land Sea New Corridor, has been working with various provinces and regions along the route to accelerate the construction of the corridor. Chen Xinwu, Deputy Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee and Executive Deputy Mayor of the Municipal Government, demonstrated the vigorous development of the Western Land Sea New Corridor through a set of data - it connects 583 ports in 127 countries and regions, transports more than 1300 types of goods, and has a growing circle of friends and influence.

It is precisely based on the increasingly significant importance and broad development prospects of the channel that the eight departments jointly issued the "Opinions", focusing on the development mainline of "channel with logistics, logistics with economy and trade, and economy and trade with industry", adhering to problem orientation, multi cross collaboration, adapting to local conditions, and integrated development, deepening financial reform, innovation and opening up, and comprehensively improving the financial service system of the Western Land Sea New Channel.

Against the backdrop of complex international geopolitical and economic situations, the issuance of the 'Opinions' demonstrates China's determination to' open its doors wider and wider '. It is of great significance and has a positive impact on building a smooth and interconnected domestic and international dual circulation, and helping to form a new pattern of' land, sea, and domestic linkage, and east-west mutual assistance 'in opening up to the outside world, "said Lu Lei.

cross-departmental collaboration

The Western Land Sea New Corridor involves "13+2" provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in the eastern, central, and western regions, integrating diverse economic features such as inland, coastal, and border trade. How to break down regional barriers and promote the formation of a coordinated development pattern of "financial chess"?

Lu Lei introduced that the "Opinions" explore the integration of credit granting for financial institutions in provinces, regions, and cities along the Belt and Road, establish joint credit and syndicated loan mechanisms, and a "one-stop access" joint service network for domestic and foreign branches. It highlights the strengthening of financial and entity linkage within provinces, regions, and cities, cross regional linkage of inter provincial financial systems, and cross-border financial cooperation between countries along the Belt and Road and ASEAN countries. At these three levels, they coordinate and work together to build a new development pattern with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international circulations mutually promoting each other.

Building a high-quality funding system is the key to the construction of service channels, logistics, industries, platforms, and markets. The Opinion focuses on key areas such as channel infrastructure, logistics, industry, and commerce, guiding financial institutions to develop distinctive, differentiated, and adaptable financial products, providing integrated financial solutions, and ensuring diversified funding and convenient settlement needs for different entities and development stages.

Deepening the pilot of railway transportation document financial services based on local demand is a major highlight of deepening the innovation of exclusive financial products in the field of channel logistics. Railway transportation document financial services are an important component of domestic and foreign trade financial services, which are naturally in line with the development positioning and superior location conditions of the Western Land Sea New Corridor. Guo Wuping, Director of the Policy Research Department of the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration, said that in credit management, banking and insurance institutions fully utilize the functions of trade background authenticity verification, cargo control, risk mitigation, etc. of railway transportation documents, comprehensively evaluate enterprise qualifications, and provide more support and preferential treatment for enterprises in credit limits, product services, loan terms, interest rates and other aspects, actively meeting the effective financial needs of enterprises. The State Administration for Financial Regulation will promote railway transportation financial document services to become characteristic financial products that support trade development and better assist enterprise operations.

The capital market also provides diversified market-oriented financing channels for channel construction, such as exchange market stocks, corporate bonds, asset securitization (ABS), and real estate investment trusts (REITs). For example, in the bond market, in the first 11 months of this year, the exchange market supported enterprises in provinces, regions, and cities along the channel to issue nearly 700 billion yuan of corporate bonds, supporting the expansion of financing channels and the reduction of financing costs, and helping to increase the proportion of direct financing. Huang Jianshan, Deputy Director of the Bond Department of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, stated that the commission will continue to deepen the comprehensive reform of capital market investment and financing, support various entities to comprehensively utilize the advantages and characteristics of equity financing, bond financing, and asset revitalization tools, and further play the role of the capital market in serving the construction of the Western Land Sea New Corridor.

Internal and external linkage

Institutional reform and innovation are the core of improving the convenience of financial services, and the Opinion has introduced a series of measures to optimize the fund settlement convenience system. Chen Zhiwei, Director of the Foreign Exchange Research Center of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, stated that efforts will be made to build a "more honest and convenient" foreign exchange service environment in cross-border trade settlement; Continuously simplifying business processes and expanding corporate financing channels in cross-border investment and financing; In terms of strengthening digital intelligence empowerment, we will promote the joint construction and sharing of cross-border financial service platforms in areas along the corridor. These measures have created a more convenient, open, secure, and intelligent foreign exchange policy environment for the development of channel economy and trade.

In terms of expanding the cross-border use of RMB, the Opinion proposes to deepen the pilot program of RMB settlement facilitation for higher-level trade and investment, and support foreign trade and economic cooperation enterprises to use RMB more for settlement; Special emphasis should be placed on leveraging the advantages of digital RMB payment, including settlement, low cost, and programmability. Research should be conducted on using digital RMB smart contracts to create innovative solutions and explore the feasibility of expanding the application of digital RMB in channel payment settlement, financing, tax refund, and other scenarios. Yao Li, the President of the Chongqing Branch of the People's Bank of China, revealed that Chongqing has relied on the multilateral central bank digital currency bridge and the China Singapore bilateral digital RMB pilot to promote new breakthroughs in cross-border settlement of digital RMB, bringing enterprises a new settlement experience of "instant payment".

The vitality of policies lies in their implementation. Lu Lei stated that the People's Bank of China will explore the construction of a vertically interconnected, horizontally linked, division of labor and cooperation, and mutually supportive working mechanism with relevant departments, provinces, and municipalities to promote the implementation and refinement of the Opinions. At the same time, we will strengthen the closed-loop management mechanism of channel financial services, establish a reporting and evaluation mechanism for dynamic monitoring reports of financial service channels, track and evaluate the service effectiveness of various provinces, regions and cities, and incorporate the evaluation results into credit policy guidance evaluation, bank foreign exchange compliance and prudent operation evaluation mechanisms to guide more financial resources to accelerate support for channel construction.

Next, we will introduce supporting implementation plans to ensure that every policy in the 'Opinions' has a foothold, responsible persons, and a timetable.' Chen Xinwu revealed that currently, Chongqing has formulated a plan for the construction of the Land Sea New Channel Financial Service Center, which is scheduled to officially operate early next year. At that time, the center will rely on the center to promote linkage and cooperation among provinces and regions along the route and domestic and foreign financial institutions, jointly build a unified directory database, policy database, product database, and achievement database, explore cross-border credit cooperation, and further enhance the synergy of the construction of financial service channels along the route and at home and abroad. (Reporter Gou Mingyang)

(Original Title: Eight Departments Jointly Release 21 Measures - Improving the Financial Service System of the Western Land Sea New Channel)

Editor: Jiang Yani