A set of new initiatives aimed at boosting China's financial opening-up and facilitating cross-border investment and financing were released during the 2025 Lujiazui Forum recently held in Shanghai.

Among the key measures is the establishment of an international operation center for the digital RMB to advance its international use and develop related financial market services, as announced by Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC).

Shanghai's Lingang New Area will serve as a pilot zone for comprehensive offshore trade finance reforms, adopting innovative business rules to support the city's offshore trade development.

Moreover, China plans to develop free-trade offshore bonds to broaden financing options for outbound enterprises.

The reform package also includes upgrading the free trade account functions to facilitate efficient capital flows between quality enterprises and overseas funds, enhancing cross-border trade and investment liberalization, and further opening Shanghai's financial market.

Additionally, Shanghai will pioneer structural monetary policy tools such as blockchain-based letter of credit refinancing in the shipping trade sector, expanded carbon emissions reduction support tools, and risk-sharing tools for innovative technology bond issuance by private equity firms.

Complementing these initiatives, Zhu Hexin, deputy governor of the PBOC and head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), disclosed multiple new policies aimed at facilitating cross-border investment and financing.

SAFE will increase support for foreign trade enterprises by encouraging banks to include emerging trade entities within trade facilitation frameworks, fine-tuning foreign exchange settlement policies for comprehensive foreign trade service providers, and facilitating centralized management of overseas funds for trusted contracting firms.

Policies will also be implemented to support research institutes in utilizing foreign capital, ease cross-border financing for technology firms, and trim the negative list for the use of capital account income.

A nationwide rollout of integrated funding pools for multinational corporations (MNCs) in both domestic and foreign currencies is also planned to facilitate the utilization of funds within MNC groups.

Furthermore, in free trade zones, SAFE will implement a package of foreign exchange innovation policies, including expanding the Qualified Foreign Limited Partner pilot program and optimizing new international trade settlement mechanisms.