The governor of China's central bank, Yi Gang, unveiled on Wednesday morning a slew of detailed measures following President Xi Jinping's request at the annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia to further open up the country's financial markets.
The measures released by Yi, which are expected to be put in place either by the end of June or within the year, include erasing the capital cap on foreign ownership in financial institutes, as well as easing foreign equity restrictions on life insurance and securities companies and funds.
China will eliminate the foreign ownership limit for commercial banks and financial asset investment and wealth management companies by the end of this year, Yi said at the forum in Hainan province.
Regulators will also raise foreign ownership limits to 51 percent in securities, fund management, futures and life insurance companies over next few months, and the capital cap will be eliminated in three years, Yi said.
The string of detailed measures is a timely and quick reaction to Xi's speech on Tuesday, which announced a number of landmark measures to be launched this year to broaden market access in the services sector, especially in the financial sector.
Yi said the People's Bank of China will substantially raise the daily trading quota for stock connects between Shanghai and Shenzhen with Hong Kong beginning on May 1. The daily quota for the northbound will be lifted to 52 billion yuan ($8.27 billion) from 13 billion yuan and the southbound quota will be raised to 42 billion yuan from 10.5 billion yuan.
Yi also said China will launch the Shanghai-London stock connect this year.
While taking a firm stance on further opening-up, Yi noted the importance of risk control and market regulations. He reiterated the necessity of regulating all market players on an equal footing, no matter if they are local or foreign financial firms.
Also at the forum, Yi pledged to push forward the yuan's internationalization and capital account liberalization on a gradual basis, while keeping the exchange rate of the yuan stable.
To support the real economy and fend off potential risks, China will continue to follow a prudent monetary policy and at the same time keep the interest rate relatively stable at the current level, Yi said.
The detailed opening-up measures unveiled by Yi won praise. Craig Meller, chief executive of AMP Limited of Australia, called the changes timely in putting Xi's call into place.
Xi's pledge to broaden market access in the financial sector has won positive feedback, with foreign companies looking forward for details. Yi's new releases are implementation details of Xi's landmark strategy, Meller said.
Joe He Yizhou, managing director and China chief executive of Australian Capital Equity, said the new measures would inject confidence into the market, as they are concrete with specific timelines. And the easing of limits will give more flexibility for foreign institutions, said He.
"The opening-up of market access will create more possibilities for foreign institutions in the investment sector," said He.
Yang Han contributed to this story.
Overview
Haikou 
Sanya 
