Post-Crisis Lessons
2018-10-23
Ten years have passed since the international financial crisis erupted in the United States in 2008. The international economy is still experiencing a postcrisis era of slow recovery. The financial crisis, which spurred major developed countries to narrow market access, also deterred economic globalization and weakened driving forces for the recovery of the international economy. Against such a backdrop, Chinas efforts to uphold economic globalization to draw lessons from the international fi nancial crises, prevent domestic financial crisis and propel the recovery of the global economy are signifi cant.
The financial industry is the lifeblood of modern economic development. China has experienced two major financial crises—the Asian fi nancial crisis in 1997 and the international fi nancial crisis in 2008—which left no overwhelming impacts on China. However, the economic system of the country is not utterly impervious to financial crises. Chinas financial market has been further opened up and the renminbi more internationalized, making the financial industry increasingly global while also exposing it to crises. Therefore, preventing and dissolving financial risks were listed as a priority task at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
Viewed from a global perspective, the international community has greatly changed global financial regulatory rules so as to promote the stable and sound development of financial systems, solve problems exposed by fi nancial crises and prevent the recurrence of similar crises, a process where rules have been improved and revised. Apart from contributing to the improvement of international fi nancial regulatory rules, China needs to provide institutional references. The international community can also draw references from Chinese fi nancial systems in terms of prevention and countermeasures against crises.
In the past decade, Chinas financial industry has undergone reforms partly generated by the need to adapt to the development of globalization as well as prevent and dissolve financial risks. Viewing changes in the post-crisis fi nancial system from the perspective of financial reforms, the current development of the financial system and influential factors, there are questions such as whether depending too much on capital regulation according to the Basel Accords is a right choice and whether risk measurements are generally underestimated. Industry insiders are expected to explore the progress made and problems that may still loom in terms of financial regulation reforms implemented since the financial crisis 10 years ago.
As a Chinese saying advises, “Dont leave your raincoat at home on sunny days.” Although conclusions can be drawn from crises, relevant sectors need to understand the features of fi nancial systems beforehand and take measures to prevent and reduce possible crises.