Recently, the first batch of 16 fintech innovation pilot projects were launched in Beijing's capital market, including Beijing Equity Trading Center's blockchain platform for share transfer of private equity funds and Chinese Galaxy Securities' e-CNY-based fintech project. The goal is to improve the regulatory mechanism for fintech and promote the digital transformation of the capital market.

In March 2021, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) launched the fintech innovation pilot projects in Beijing to promote the stable development of fintech in the securities and futures industry. Recently, in accordance with the relevant requirements of the CSRC, the special working group on capital market fintech innovation pilot (Beijing) has completed the collection and selection, expert review, professional evaluation, and public announcement of the first batch of pilot projects.

Among the projects, Beijing Equity Trading Center's blockchain platform for share transfer of private equity funds is the first of its kind in China. It will further expand the diversified financing and exit channels of private equity investment fund shares, enabling long-term financial support for technological innovation enterprises. The platform for share transfer also provides comprehensive services for equity investment and business creation, boosting the development of Beijing's "two zones".

By applying cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and other new-generation information technologies, China Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation Limited (CSDC)'s mobile app has created a cross-market, integrated, convenient, inclusive and efficient investor registration service system, bolstering the real economy and supporting Beijing's effort in building the center for science and technology innovation.

A staff member from Beijing Frontier Institute of Regulation and Supervision Technology (FIRST) said that the first batch of pilot projects and working mechanisms selected into the "regulatory sandbox" of Beijing's capital market will lay a good foundation for nation-wide expansion of the pilot program and provide a "Beijing model" of building a fintech innovation supervision system in the national capital market. Wu Zhuang, director of the information technology department of Yinhua Fund Management Co., Ltd., said that the first batch of the fintech innovation pilot projects in Beijing's capital market are highly compatible with the business scenarios of the securities and fund industry, and that they represent major innovation of technology-business integration at multiple levels and dimensions. Wu believed that the projects would play an exemplary role in using fintech to help reduce costs and enhance efficiency, boost business innovation, serve entities and advance technology regulation.

Che Ning, deputy director of the Research Center for the Rule of Law and Sustainable Development of China University of Political Science and Law, said that the first batch of fintech innovation pilot projects in Beijing's capital market will facilitate the development of more specialized, high-grade and innovation-driven SMEs that provide distinctive products or services through technological and institutional innovation along with the Beijing Stock Exchange. Lv Zhongtao, Chief Technology Officer of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, believed that the fintech innovation pilot projects in the capital market not only help maintain the enthusiasm of various market entities for fintech innovation, but also help develop regulatory tools in light of the emerging fintech innovations, providing an effective approach to innovating fintech in the capital market.

Yin Zhentao, director of the fintech research office of the Institute of Finance and Banking in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the fintech innovation pilot program is an important form of "regulatory sandbox", and it supports and encourages financial innovation, especially fintech innovations on the basis of keeping regulatory compliance and risks under control. The fintech pilot projects in the capital market jointly launched by CSRC and Beijing Local Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau fully demonstrate the advantages and characteristics of the Chinese version of the regulatory sandbox. Beijing's fintech regulatory sandbox will be continuously optimized and enriched. By giving full play to Beijing's favorable policies and strength in scientific research, it will accelerate the in-depth integration between technology and finance and provide better application scenarios and service ecosystems for projects that have passed the sandbox testing.

(Reporter: Li Bo)