CHINA is considering handing the nation’s central bank a key role in coordinating financial oversight, in order to focus efforts on reining in risk in the sector, people familiar with the discussions said.

The move, to be debated as part of the fifth National Financial Work Conference due to start on July 14, would create a new office for coordinating the nation’s three main regulatory bodies at the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) to be led by the institution’s governor, currently Zhou Xiaochuan, the people said, who asked not to be named as the matter isn’t public.

China’s ruling Communist Party is homing in on the threats to stability posed by rapid credit growth, a dynamic shadow banking sector and an overheating property market as it heads toward a leadership transition later this year. While the move would fall short of creating a long-mooted “super-regulator,” corralling the three separate agencies overseeing banks, stock markets and insurance companies is key priority for President Xi Jinping.

Under the PBoC’s leadership, the heads of the three regulators may be joined in the new coordination office by officials from the finance ministry and the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s main economic planning agency. Although no decisions on the matter have yet been taken, an option to be discussed is if the PBoC should take more direct oversight of some major institutions, two of the people said.

The PBoC, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CISC) did not immediately reply to faxes seeking comment on the matter. The Wall Street Journal reported on July 4 the date of the meeting and that the PBoC may be given more say on coordinating regulators.

JOINT APPROACH
The idea of consolidation — or at least greater cooperation — among the institutions has been around for at least a decade and regained traction after China’s stock market turmoil in 2015. The country’s financial markets are currently governed by the CBRC, CSRC and CIRC, in conjunction with the central bank, a structure that has encouraged regulatory arbitrage and helped fuel the growth of trillions of dollars of risky financial products.

In its 2017 financial stability report released earlier this month, the central bank floated a “joint force” approach to strengthen the coordination of financial supervision and to prevents gaps in regulation. Cross-sector risks should be closely monitored, the PBoC said in that report, reiterating an objective often repeated by regulators and government officials.

In a move that signalled a shift toward a more unified approach, regulators earlier this year began working on drafting new rules for asset-management products, which include investments in bonds and risky off-balance-sheet lending by banks. — Bloomberg

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