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“The Party Must Strengthen Its Leadership in Finance!”: Digital Technologies and Financial Governance in China's Fintech Development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 September 2020

Jing Wang
Jing Wang*
Affiliation:
New York University Shanghai. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

This article examines the roles digital technologies have played in propelling the shifts in modes of financial governance which have been led by the Chinese Communist Party and enacted by a wide spectrum of regulative actors. Based on analyses of the laws, policies and regulations surrounding digital financial technologies, or so-called fintechs, as well as in-depth interviews with government officials and fintech business executives, I argue that the proliferation of fintechs challenged the existing regulatory schemes defined by the Central Bank and the State Council. This forced a reconsideration of the Chinese government's hegemonic strategies in governing the rapidly changing financial industries. While digital technologies have been promoted to accomplish the goals set by the Party for financial marketization and modernization, a set of institutions including regulatory, organizational and normative rules have been developed to strengthen the Party's control over the digitization of finance. This contradiction is pivotal to understanding the Party's financial policymaking in the digital age.

摘要

摘要

中国的金融治理模式正在发生结构性变化，而本文分析了数字科技在这一变迁中起到的作用。基于对 2012 年以来出台的与金融科技相关的法规，政策，监管措施的分析，以及对政府官员和金融科技公司管理者的访谈，本文指出：由于央行和国务院既有的监管系统无法有效应对金融科技的快速增长，中央政府从而重提并加强了 “党管金融” 的策略。这一策略一方面支持和推广金融科技以服务于金融 “市场化” 和 “现代化” 的目标；另一方面，新颁布的一系列监管措施和新的监管组织方式也在加强党中央对金融数字化的控制。研究这一策略及其所体现的对立统一关系，对理解中国政府在数字科技时代金融政策的制定起到关键作用。

Keywords

fintechinternet financefinancial governancedigital technologiesChina金融科技互联网金融金融治理数字科技中国
Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 247 , September 2021 , pp. 773 - 792
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Copyright
Copyright © SOAS University of London, 2020

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