What's on the Agenda at China's Five-Yearly Finance Meeting: Q&A

Once every five years, China’s leaders get together to consider ways to improve the country’s gigantic and complex financial system. The next meeting of the National Financial Work Conference takes place July 14-15 in Beijing, with President Xi Jinping expected to attend. There’ll be plenty to talk about. Reining in financial risk is a key policy goal for Xi, along with getting China’s various regulators to work together.

Yes. The meeting has held a special place in China’s economic and political calendar since it was introduced to encourage more sustainable economic growth following the Asian financial crisis. The first conference in 1997 saw the establishment of an insurance regulator and a plan to bail out China’s largest banks. The second led to the creation of a banking regulator and a drive to list major state-owned lenders on overseas stock exchanges. The 2007 conference oversaw the creation of the sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corp., which now has $813.5 billion of assets. The meeting in 2012 focused on the fallout from the global financial crisis.