FINANCE

Founded as a leading group in 1980 and usually led by the CCP General Secretary, it was upgraded to a commission by Xi in the party-state institutional reforms of March 2018, a move designed to strengthen Xi’s personal and the party’s central leadership over the economy and the financial system compared with the State Council. [...] It was built on the foundations of the former China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, which operated from 2018 to 2023 following the merger of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, founded in 1998, and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, founded in 2003. [...] People Xi Jinping (born June 1953) is the most influential policy actor in the Chinese financial system, not only because he leads the Politburo and the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), but also because he is the Director of the CCP Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission. [...] China’s financial sector is dominated by the party-state, which sees this control as a bulwark against the political threat of a financial crisis, especially after government interventions helped the economy survive the Asian financial crisis of 1997–1998 and the global financial crisis of 2008–2009. [...] Xi’s report to the 20th Party Congress in October 2022 stated that the party would “deepen reform of the financial system, build a modern central banking system, strengthen and improve modern financial oversight, strengthen the financial stability protection system, bring all types of financial activities under supervision in accordance with the law, and guard the bottom line of no systemic risk.”.