Recently, four departments including the People's Bank of China ("PBC") have jointly issued the Official Reply on the Proposed Pilot Program on the Innovative Development of Financial Standards in Chongqing Municipality and Zhejiang Province (the "Reply"). The pilot period commences from the issue date of the Reply till December 31, 2020.
According to the implementing plan for the pilot program annexed to the Reply, the pilot program to be launched in Chongqing Municipality covers tasks in four respects. The first is creating a work mechanism for innovations in financial standards to coordinate the resolution of difficulties and problems arising out of the pilot development. The second is making practices to research, formulate and revise financial standards and enhancing the capacity to research and enact financial standards in the pilot regions. The third is carrying out a special operation to enable financial enterprises to better comply with and meet standards and establishing the evaluation and incentive mechanism for financial standards. The fourth is stepping up efforts to publicize financial standards to raise the awareness of financial consumers about financial standards. The pilot program to be carried out in Zhejiang province will focus on certain tasks, including developing standards for green finance, developing standards for internet finance, developing standards for inclusive finance, and implementing financial standards.