Markets Wired

BEIJING – The United States and the People’s Republic of China held the fifth meeting of the Financial Working Group (FWG) in Shanghai on August 15-16.   

Senior officials from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the People’s Bank of China led the two-day meeting, with participation from other agencies. The meetings began with a review of outcomes from technical exchanges held bilaterally in June and July on central bank climate scenario testing, financial sector operational resilience, cross-border supply of financial services, and hypothetical Global Systemically Important Banks (G-SIBs) resolution. The Joint Treasury-People’s Bank of China Cooperation and Exchange on Anti-Money Laundering (AML) met in-person for the second time since U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen announced its launch in April, and discussed beneficial ownership, updates on potential revisions of China’s AML law, and other topics. Other meeting sessions included discussions on macroeconomic and financial stability, international financial institutions, cross-border payments and data, sustainable finance, and capital markets issues. U.S. officials also raised areas of disagreement during the conversations. The FWG meeting also included a roundtable of private Chinese and U.S. firms to exchange views on a range of topics related to climate financing, including transition planning and carbon markets.  

The meetings concluded with Treasury and the PBOC exchanging letters in support of coordination during times of financial stress to strengthen appropriate information sharing and reduce overall uncertainty between Treasury and the PBOC regarding crisis management and recovery and resolution frameworks. The two sides also exchanged key points of contact to make it easier to quickly coordinate in instances of financial stress or operational resilience issues. The working group will continue to meet regularly and to hold additional follow up technical exercises. 

The FWG is one of two working groups formed by Secretary Yellen and Vice Premier He Lifeng of the People’s Republic of China last September. The FWG is co-led by Brent Neiman, Assistant Secretary for International Finance at the U.S. Treasury, and Xuan Changneng, Deputy Governor of the People’s Bank of China. The FWG reports directly to Secretary Yellen and Vice Premier He, and builds on President Biden’s guidance following the Bali and Woodside Summits to deepen communications between the two countries. 

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