On September 10, 2026, the State Council Information Office hosted a press conference themed "A Strong Start for the 15th Five-Year Plan," featuring key officials from the People's Bank of China, the National Financial Regulatory Administration, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. The discussion centered on implementing financial sector plans for the 2026-2030 period and advancing the nation's goal of becoming a global financial powerhouse.
During the briefing, NFRA Vice Administrator Cong Lin outlined plans for the upcoming five-year period, emphasizing a coordinated approach to risk prevention, enhanced supervision, and high-quality development. Key priorities include the orderly resolution of risks among local small and medium-sized financial institutions, with a firm commitment to preventing systemic risks and maintaining stability.
She emphasized that a comprehensive "five major supervisory" framework will be strengthened to ensure rigorous and effective oversight. Financial institutions will be encouraged to provide robust support for major national strategies, key sectors, and weak links in the economy. Notably, significant attention will be directed toward rectifying industry-wide issues such as aggressive price competition, illegal commission rebates, and high-cost deposit schemes.
Here are the key takeaways from the press conference:
Financial support will be heightened for areas including consumption, investment, business stability, employment, and technological innovation. Specific emphasis will be placed on financing for major infrastructure projects, renewed equipment upgrades, and consumer goods trade-ins.
Supervisory bodies will guide financial institutions to accelerate their reform and transition, fostering sustainable internal drivers for growth. This includes a tailored approach to optimizing the financial institutional framework and steadily advancing the reform and risk mitigation of local small and medium-sized banks. Institutions will be steered to support the upgrading of consumer spending and unleash the potential of both service and new types of consumption. Financing will be directed toward priority projects like key infrastructure networks and the state's list of major engineering initiatives for the 2026-2030 period.
Efforts will also be made to improve the allocation of financial resources to the technology sector. This involves refining policies for insurance funds to invest early in small, long-term, and hard-tech ventures, backing the growth of emerging and future industries. Increased lending will be directed toward the manufacturing sector to support the modernization of traditional industries, contributing to a contemporary industrial system.
The following is the transcript from the press conference:
Cong Lin, Vice Administrator of the National Financial Regulatory Administration, began by thanking the media for their continued support. She reviewed the achievements of the "14th Five-Year Plan" (2021-2025), noting the stable and healthy operation of the financial industry. Key metrics included a commercial bank provision coverage ratio of 205.21% and a capital adequacy ratio of 15.46% by the end of 2025, with the average comprehensive solvency ratio for insurance companies at 181.1%. Significant capital injections into state-owned banks totaled 520 billion yuan last year, with an additional 360 billion yuan raised by eight central financial enterprises, thereby bolstering their stability and capacity to serve the real economy.
She highlighted that the banking and insurance sectors provided over 170 trillion yuan in new financing to the real economy through loans, bonds, and equity. Insurance payouts totaled 9.7 trillion yuan, a 65% increase compared to the previous five-year period. Progress was also made in mitigating risks, with a significant reduction in the number of high-risk local small and medium-sized financial institutions and the successful prevention of systemic financial risks. Regulatory effectiveness was enhanced through major advancements in financial legislation and enforcement, and dedicated mechanisms for financial consumer protection were strengthened.
Looking ahead to the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, a crucial phase for laying a solid foundation for socialist modernization and building a financial powerhouse, the NFRA outlined its strategy moving forward. In terms of risk prevention, the administration will adopt a basic policy of stabilizing the overall situation and implementing targeted measures. The goal is to manage risks in local financial institutions in an orderly manner, strictly preventing any default crises. There will be a push for these institutions to reduce their numbers while improving quality, optimizing their structure, and fighting illegal financial activities to protect people's assets.
In the area of regulation, the NFRA will intensify its "five major supervisory" functions with greater precision and authority. A key focus will be on key individuals, matters, and behaviors, alongside efforts to accelerate the improvement of the financial legal system. Regulatory frameworks will be refined to incorporate differential supervision and enhanced technological application for more penetrating oversight. Financial institutions will be guided to speed up their transformation and enhance their capacity for sustainable development.
To promote high-quality development, financial institutions will be encouraged to effectively serve critical national strategies, crucial sectors, and weak links. Financial support will be increased for boosting consumption, investment, enterprise stability, employment, and technological innovation. This includes prioritizing financing for major national projects and key renewal programs. Integrated financial services will be optimized to facilitate foreign trade stability.
In the Q&A session, when asked about improving regulatory effectiveness in the coming years, Cong Lin stated that the "15th Five-Year Plan" provides clear directives for financial reform and development. The NFRA will leverage its supervisory role to guide institutions in their reform and transformation efforts.
The first measure involves optimizing the financial institutional system with a tailored strategy. Given the diverse and numerous financial institutions in China, the focus is on improving structure and quality. The NFRA will define their business boundaries and behavioral "red lines," steering them to concentrate on their core businesses and differentiated development. Large state-owned banks will act as the cornerstone for serving the real economy and maintaining financial stability. Policy banks will focus on national strategic initiatives that are not commercially viable. Local small and medium-sized institutions will be encouraged to reduce their scale, enhance quality, and cultivate specialized operations rooted in their local regions. The insurance industry will be positioned as an economic shock absorber and social stabilizer. Asset management, non-bank financial institutions, and others will be urged to enhance wealth management, facilitate direct financing, and diversify financial services.
The second area is the steady promotion of reform and risk resolution for local small and medium-sized financial institutions. This involves strengthening coordination between central and local authorities to safely manage risk disposal. Institutions that have undergone resolution will be guided to solidify their reforms, rebuild governance, management, and business operations, and improve their professional capabilities. A proactive, full-process risk prevention mechanism will be established to ensure early identification, warning, exposure, and handling of risks. For weaker institutions, strategies will be studied to consolidate resources and strengthen their capacity for proactive risk mitigation.
Thirdly, the NFRA will take multiple measures to foster a healthy industry culture. Financial institutions will be guided to adopt a correct view on performance and risk, moving away from a focus on size and speed towards quality and efficiency to boost their core competitiveness. A major push will be made to rectify problematic practices such as "price wars", illegal rebates, and "high-interest, high-return" promotions. The administration will fully implement cost-management reforms in the insurance industry and undertake comprehensive governance of non-auto insurance to improve profitability and efficiency. Strengthened financial consumer protection is also planned, with institutions held accountable for product suitability and marketing practices. Cooperation between law enforcement and the judiciary will be enhanced to aggressively combat financial fraud and "grey and black industries."
In response to a question about serving the real economy, Cong Lin explained that serving the real economy is the fundamental duty of finance. The regulator will guide the banking and insurance sectors to better support high-quality social and economic development.
This will be achieved through three key channels. First, is efficiently serving the new development paradigm. Policies will be optimized to coordinate fiscal and financial measures, boosting support for consumption and investment from both the supply and demand sides. For instance, in the first seven months of the year, an estimated 1.88 trillion yuan in personal consumption was supported through loan interest subsidies. By the end of July, loans to the wholesale, retail, leasing, and business services sectors grew significantly year-on-year. Support will also be directed towards expanding merchandise consumption and unlocking the potential of service and new consumption. Financial backing will be strengthened for key national projects, with a focus on stabilizing foreign trade by supporting intermediate goods exports, overseas warehouse construction, and cross-border e-commerce.
Second, accelerating the cultivation of new growth drivers. Financial institutions will be guided to use a mix of instruments like loans, investments, insurance, and leasing to provide full life-cycle services to tech enterprises. By the end of July, loans to tech enterprises reached 26.9 trillion yuan, a 17.9% increase, while manufacturing loans hit 41.7 trillion yuan, up 9.8%. A series of policy documents have been issued to leverage insurance for tech development, with common insurance mechanisms for sectors like integrated circuits and commercial aerospace. In the first seven months, tech insurance provided 7.2 trillion yuan in risk coverage, a surge of 55.8%. Looking ahead, the allocation of financial resources to the tech sector will be optimized, with improved policies for insurance funds to invest in early-stage, small, long-term, and hard-tech ventures. Lending to the manufacturing sector will be expanded to support the transformation of traditional industries.
Third, effectively safeguarding and improving people's livelihoods. The coordination mechanism for supporting small and micro enterprises will be leveraged fully; by the end of July, banks had issued over 43 trillion yuan in loans to 15.65 million small and micro business entities. Agricultural insurance will be expanded and improved, with payouts reaching 59.7 billion yuan in the first seven months. The level of pension and health insurance services will be raised, with accumulated reserves of over 13 trillion yuan for these sectors. The insurance industry has been actively participating in pre-disaster prevention, mid-disaster mitigation, and post-disaster relief, with 12.2 billion yuan already paid out in response to recent typhoons, mudslides, and earthquakes. Financial institutions will guide future efforts to meet the needs of key social sectors like education, healthcare, and sports, optimizing financial services for rural revitalization and improving financing access for small enterprises. The development of commercial pension insurance will be strongly encouraged, and health insurance coverage will be expanded. Special inclusive insurance products will be developed for specific worker categories, and credit support will be enhanced for housing, education, and vocational training needs to better serve new employment groups.