Foreign firms weigh in on China's financial opening-up

Foreign financial service companies gave the thumbs up to China's steps to reform and open up its financial market over the past several decades — though there is still room to develop, they said.

The Toronto-based Manulife Financial said in a report seen by China Daily website at the China Development Forum on Saturday that the Chinese government has made important progress toward mitigating future potential risks, as it has adopted measures to strengthen financial regulation and liberalize financial markets over the previous years, including launching a policy campaign to deleverage the financial sector, which focused on reducing risks related to shadow banking activity.

Incremental opening-up of the onshore bond and equity markets has started to increase foreign participation, paving the way for China's inclusion in global indices like the MSCI, as HSBC noted in its report.

At the end of last month, MSCI decided to expand the weight of yuan-denominated A-shares in benchmark indexes by quadrupling the inclusion factor or adjusted free float cap from 5 to 20 percent, after an initial inclusion of China A-shares starting in June 2018. Its rival FTSE Russell will also begin phasing in eligible Chinese-listed stocks starting this June.