New guideline to further facilitate China's cross-border flow of financial data: experts

A new guideline China has issued on regulating the cross-border flow of financial data will help enhance data security and efficiency, while advancing high-standard opening up of the financial sector, said experts on Thursday.

The guideline, released by six departments, including the People's Bank of China and the National Financial Regulatory Administration, aims to improve efficiency and compliance of cross-border flow of financial data.

It further clarifies the conditions for data export and specifies the list of data items permitted for cross-border transfer to facilitate smoother data flow.

Regarding areas such as cross-border payments, remittances, account openings, and shopping, the guideline specifies scenarios where data export is exempt from security assessments for outbound data transfers, where personal information export standard contracts can be signed, or where data export is permitted through personal information protection certification.

For cases where data cross-border compliance obligations cannot be exempted but practical needs require data export, the guideline has categorized over 60 common financial business scenarios.

"The guideline provides solutions to many of our difficulties, allowing us to offer faster and better financial services. It basically covers all possible business scenarios of our bank," said Ginger Cheng, CEO of DBS Bank (China) Limited.

Financial institutions should adopt effective data security protection efforts and technical measures to safeguard data security, according to the guideline.

"Mainly targeting data security risks and the possible spillover and spread of security risks caused by cross-border data flows, the guideline first sorts out the categories, descriptions and corresponding lists of personal information data items of financial business scenarios, so as to prevent financial institutions from illegally transferring data abroad due to excessive discretion," said Hong Yanqing, professor of School of Law with Beijing Institute of Technology.

Industry experts believe that providing financial institutions with clear regulatory guidance will facilitate safer, more orderly, and efficient cross-border data flow in the financial sector. This will help create a more business-friendly and inclusive environment, further enhancing international competitiveness, as well as influence in rule-making.

"Overall, the release of the guidelines conforms to the trend of high-level opening up and high-quality development in the financial industry, providing systematic and specific operational guidance for cross-border data compliance. It not only provides a clearer compliance path for Chinese and foreign financial institutions, but also will improve the competitiveness and influence of China's financial industry in the international market in the long term," Hong said.

New guideline to further facilitate China's cross-border flow of financial data: experts

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Thursday presided over a State Council executive meeting that studied work on building a unified national market and reviewed and approved a plan for the development of a modern emergency response system during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030).

Noting that building a unified national market is essential to advancing high-quality development, the meeting called for deepening institutional frameworks in areas such as property rights protection, market access, fair competition, social credit and market exit mechanisms.

The meeting also urged efforts to advance high-standard connectivity of market infrastructure to facilitate smooth economic circulation and effectively reduce logistics costs across society.

Emergency management is critical to protecting people's lives and property, the meeting said. It called for accelerating the development of a modern emergency response system, deepening reform and innovation in emergency management, and improving coordinated response mechanisms.

Efforts should be made to strengthen risk prevention at the source, enhance monitoring, forecasting and early warning, and accelerate a shift in governance toward proactive prevention, according to the meeting.

A draft revision of the Law on the People's Bank of China was also discussed and approved in principle at the meeting, which decided to submit the draft to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for deliberation.

Chinese premier chairs State Council executive meeting