Six Major Reform Axes Announced
People's Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng delivered a landmark speech at the 2026 Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai, outlining six priority reform directions for the next phase of China's financial modernisation. The address, delivered in June 2026, drew a direct line between institutional deepening of capital markets and the broader goal of high-quality economic development.
The Six Pillars
- Interest rate marketisation: accelerating the transition to market-determined rates across all tenors, including corporate bonds and interbank products
- Capital account opening: expanding qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII) quotas and piloting cross-border use of the digital yuan for trade settlement
- Financial market integration: unifying bond market rules and improving market liquidity mechanisms
- Green finance standards: aligning domestic green taxonomy with international standards to attract ESG-linked foreign capital
- SMEs credit enhancement: launching a national credit-reinforcement guarantee fund to reduce information asymmetry for bank lending
- Digital financial infrastructure: completing the interbank data exchange platform for real-time credit reporting
Why Lujiazui 2026 Matters
The Lujiazui Forum has become the premier venue for major financial policy announcements. Pan's six-axis agenda builds on the May 2025 monetary package — which included a 50-basis-point RRR cut releasing ~1 trillion yuan — and shifts the policy emphasis from volume-based stimulus to structural reform. Analysts see this as a signal that the PBOC is preparing the financial system for a new growth phase, where capital efficiency, not just credit volume, drives allocation.