BEIJING, July 20 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese banking regulator on Friday published draft rules on wealth management services of banks to better regulate the rapidly-growing but sometimes risky business.
The rules contain specific items designed to standardize the sector, including strengthened supervision, prevention of shadow-banking risks, better leverage control and protection of investor interests.
The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said in a statement that the policy would be to unify regulatory criteria, stabilize market expectations and effectively rein in risks.
Public opinion will be solicited in the next month from Friday.
The draft rules came after a detailed version of a landmark regulatory policy was unveiled at the end of April, covering asset management businesses in financial institutions.
China's asset management expanded rapidly in recent years, with collective outstanding volume reaching over 100 trillion yuan (about 14.78 trillion U.S. dollars) by the end of 2017.
But the boom has brought issues such as high leverage and shadow banking, which the new rules will target.
The asset management regulation is only a fraction of a much broader campaign by Chinese financial regulators to restore market order, with an array of measures rolled out to curb risks and crack down on violations.
Forestalling major risks has been identified as one of three "tough battles" that the country must win in the next years, along with pollution control and poverty alleviation.
