A bank employee counts Chinese renminbi (RMB) or yuan banknotes next to U.S. dollar banknotes at a Kasikornbank in Bangkok, Thailand, January 26, 2023.
Athit Perawongmetha | Reuters
BEIJING — The United States and China signed financial stability cooperation agreements last week, according to a statement released Monday by the People’s Bank of China.
The agreement was reached at a meeting of the China-U.S. financial working group held Thursday and Friday in Shanghai. Brent Neiman, deputy assistant secretary for international finance at the Treasury Department, and Xuan Changneng, vice governor of the PBOC, co-chaired the working group.
The two sides also exchanged a list of people to contact in case of financial stress or risky events, according to the PBOC statement. The Treasury was not available as of Monday afternoon Beijing time.
Representatives from the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Financial Regulatory Administration and the China Securities Regulatory Commission were also present, the PBOC said.
According to a translation of the Chinese statement by CNBC, the conversation was described as “professional, pragmatic, frank and constructive.” Topics discussed included financial markets, cross-border payments and monetary policy of the two countries, especially in the context of China’s just-concluded third plenary meeting, the PBOC statement said.
Technical experts reported on each country’s systematically important global banks, the operational resilience of financial institutions, and climate risk stress tests.
China’s government bond market saw increased volatility earlier this month following news of the PBOC’s intervention. Central bank Governor Pan Gongsheng told state media on Thursday that China’s financial risks had declined, particularly in local government debt.
Last week, U.S. and Chinese financial institutions also met for their first roundtable under the working group, the PBOC said, without giving specific names. The institutions shared potential cooperation opportunities and discussed how finance could contribute to sustainable growth.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng launched economic and financial working groups in September 2023 through which Treasury officials would meet regularly at the vice-ministerial level with the Finance Ministry and the PBOC, respectively.
