A bank employee counts Chinese renminbi (RMB) banknotes next to U.S. dollar notes at Kasikornbank in Bangkok, Thailand on January 26, 2023.
By Atit Perawongmetha | Reuters
BEIJING — The United States and China signed a cooperation agreement on financial stability last week, according to a document released by the People’s Bank of China on Monday.
The agreement was reached as part of a meeting of the U.S.-China Financial Working Group in Shanghai on Thursday and Friday. Treasury Department Assistant Secretary for International Financial Affairs Brent Neiman and People’s Bank of China Vice Governor Shuang Channeng are co-chairs of the group.
The two sides also exchanged contact lists in the event of financial stress or risk events, the People’s Bank of China said in a statement. The Finance Ministry’s statement was not available as of early afternoon Beijing time on Monday.
Representatives from the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the State Financial Regulatory Administration and the China Securities Regulatory Commission also attended, the People’s Bank of China said.
The meeting was “professional, pragmatic, candid and constructive,” the PBOC said, according to a Chinese-language statement translated by CNBC. Topics discussed included capital markets, cross-border payments and the two countries’ monetary policies, especially in the context of the recently concluded Third Plenary Session of the PRC.
Technical experts reported on the operational resilience of systemically important World Bank and financial institutions in each country, and stress tests of climate risks.
China’s government bond market saw volatility earlier this month following reports of the central bank’s intervention. People’s Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng said in state media on Thursday that financial risks in China, including in local government debt, had subsided.
The People’s Bank of China said last week that the first roundtable between U.S. and Chinese financial institutions had been held under the working group’s framework, without disclosing the names of the institutions. The two institutions shared potential opportunities for cooperation and discussed how finance can contribute to sustainable growth.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng will establish an economic and financial working group in September 2023, with Treasury officials to meet regularly at vice-ministerial level with the Ministry of Finance and the People’s Bank of China, respectively.
