Chinese central bank sets up fintech committee

BEIJING - The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank, announced Monday that it has set up a fintech committee to enhance research, planning and coordination of work on financial technology.

In order to make strategic plans and provide policy guidance on fintech development, the PBOC said it will further study its influence on monetary policy, financial markets, financial stability, payment and clearing.

"Fintech, or technology-driven financial innovation, has both injected vitality into financial development and brought new challenges to financial security," said the bank in a statement on its website.

The central bank will devise a management mechanism for fintech innovation to handle relations between security and development and guide the proper use of new technology in the financial field.

The central bank will also increase the use of regulatory technology, or "regtech," to boost its capabilities in identifying, preventing and dissolving financial risks, including both cross-sector and cross-market risks, with technology such as big data, artificial intelligence and cloud computing, it said.