Setting 'Digital' Standards, Guangzhou Releases “Twenty Measures for Digital Finance”

Photo Source: Guangzhou Municipal Local Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau
Source: Guangzhou Municipal Local Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau
To implement the strategic layout and decision-making deployment proposed by the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, which calls for actively developing digital finance and accelerating the digital transformation of financial institutions, the Guangzhou Municipal Financial Office has issued the "Several Measures to Support the High-Quality Development of Digital Finance in Guangzhou" (referred to as the "Twenty Measures for Digital Finance"). This initiative focuses on serving major strategies, key areas, and weak links, proposing 20 specific measures to accelerate the construction of a benchmark city for digital finance and to contribute new momentum to Guangzhou's development as a strong financial city.
The "Twenty Measures for Digital Finance" adhere to the fundamental purpose of serving the real economy and fully leverage Guangzhou's first-mover advantage in financial technology. They aim to promote the accelerated digital transformation of financial institutions in the region and encourage the application of digital technologies in five key service areas: technological finance, green finance, inclusive finance, pension finance, and the integration of digital and real economies. The goal is to channel more digital financial resources and technologies into empowering technological innovation, advanced manufacturing, green development, private enterprises, small and micro businesses, the silver economy, and industry transformation. This will support the accelerated development of new productive forces and enhance Guangzhou's influence on the digital finance landscape in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, contributing to building a strong financial nation.
The "Twenty Measures for Digital Finance" clearly outline key tasks for the next phase of digital finance development in Guangzhou from six aspects:
First, establish a working mechanism for digital finance development, making it an important task in building Guangzhou's digital finance ecosystem and establishing a benchmark city for digital finance in the near future.
Second, promote improvements in the fintech industry layout, continuously enhance technological credit supply, implement the high-quality development "leader" action plan for listed companies in Guangzhou earnestly, and improve the digital finance industry chain. Explore building a shared platform for digital finance and data elements, support licensed financial institutions to set up fintech subsidiaries in Guangzhou, and accelerate their "digital" and "intelligent" transformation.
Third, promote continuous innovation in the field of digital finance by actively promoting and improving pilot programs for fintech innovation regulation, capital market fintech innovation trials, and digital currency pilots. Create an inclusive and prudent regulatory environment for fintech that empowers green finance and pension finance innovation.
Fourth, vigorously develop application scenarios for digital currency with a "Guangzhou Model." Continuously expand application scenarios aiming to create 1,000 application scenarios in people's livelihood areas while focusing on innovative scenarios in key sectors for B-end applications of digital currency to boost its industrial development.
Fifth, optimise the regulatory environment for digital finance innovation by utilising big data and artificial intelligence technologies to continuously enhance compliance regulation innovations. Promote local financial digitisation regulatory capacity building while fully leveraging Guangzhou's private equity fund "watchtower" platform system to proactively identify risks and provide timely warnings to fill regulatory gaps.
Sixth, innovate to create a digital finance ecosystem in Guangzhou that enhances inclusive financial capabilities through a platform system integrating big data credit reporting, financial product innovation, financial service matchmaking, risk sharing, and non-performing asset resolution. This will promote building a talent pool for digital finance while guiding local financial enterprises, tech companies, research institutes, universities, and other advantageous resources in cultivating fintech and digital finance talent systems.
Additionally, there will be efforts to create branded activities in digital finance and regularly hold high-quality seminars on digital finance.
The introduction of the "Twenty Measures for Digital Finance" enriches the support policies in Guangzhou's digital finance sector and serves as an important tool for advancing significant developments in this area while striving to build a benchmark city for digital finance.
In the future, Guangzhou will earnestly promote the implementation of all measures outlined in these twenty points to comprehensively drive high-quality development of its digital technology industry while accelerating its establishment as a benchmark city for digital finance—striving to write a new chapter for digital finance in Guangzhou.
Disclaimer: This document has been translated into English. If there is any inconsistency or ambiguity between the English version and the Chinese version, the Chinese version shall prevail. The full text of the measures, in Chinese, can be found below: https://jrjgj.gz.gov.cn/gkmlpt/content/10/10038/post_10038231.html#1129