A new agreement has been made between the United States and China. As shared by CNBC, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) stated that it aims to boost both countries' cooperation on financial stability and was concluded during a meeting of the US-China Financial Working Group held in Shanghai on Thursday and Friday, August 15 and 16.

The working group was led by Brent Neiman, Deputy Under Secretary for International Finance at the US Treasury Department, and by Xuan Changneng, Deputy Governor of the PBOC. The working group discussions were "professional, pragmatic, candid, and constructive."

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What's in US-China's Financial Agreement?

The representatives of the two countries specifically discussed the key issues related to capital markets, cross-border payments, and monetary policies in both countries.

Apart from the stated key issues, Bloomberg reported that both sides also exchanged contact lists for managing any possible financial stress or risk event. The US delegations included major financial institutions such as the Federal Reserve and the US Securities and Exchange Commission; their Chinese counterparts were from the National Financial Regulatory Administration and the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

The latest agreement comes when China's financial markets have become increasingly volatile, especially after recent reports about the intervention of the PBOC. 

However, according to the PBOC Governor, Pan Gongsheng, last week, financial risks-among them those from local government debt-have declined. However, staying vigilant is still a must. 

Now, the US and China's financial discussion was not new as a round of roundtable discussion between their financial institutions last week already opened a new chapter of cooperation for sustained economic growth. This was kick-started in September 2023 by the US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, and will now move on to regular meetings to discuss ongoing financial challenges, per US Embassy.

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