In a State Council Information Office press conference, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) set out how it is implementing recent technology finance policy measures, including establishing a bond market “technology board” and strengthening credit support for research, innovation and equipment upgrades through an expanded relending facility. The bond market technology board, developed with the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Financial Regulatory Administration, will support technology-oriented firms while also enabling financial institutions and equity investment institutions to issue technology innovation bonds. The PBOC described differentiated issuance and trading arrangements, including flexible tranche issuance, streamlined disclosure, issuer-designed bond terms (including embedded option features), fee reductions, dedicated market-making services and tailored rating methodologies. A dedicated risk-sharing instrument will be created for these bonds, using low-cost PBOC relending to support credit enhancement and direct investment, with local governments and market-based credit enhancers expected to share default-loss risk; support will focus on leading equity investment institutions to facilitate longer-tenor, lower-cost funding. The PBOC also said it increased the technology innovation and technical transformation relending facility to CNY 800 billion from CNY 500 billion and cut the relending rate to 1.5% from 1.75%, and noted that around 100 institutions have issued or registered technology innovation bonds totalling more than CNY 250 billion. Next steps include continued rollout and monitoring of the bond market technology board and further work on supporting mechanisms, including nationwide expansion of an “innovation points” system to improve SME profiling and bank matching, standards for greater sharing of public science and technology information via credit and financial service platforms, and coordination with fiscal authorities on interest subsidies, risk compensation and the government-backed guarantee system to bolster risk-sharing for tech finance.
Central Bank of the Republic of China 2025-05-22
People’s Bank of China outlines bond market technology board rollout and raises tech innovation relending to CNY 800 billion
The People's Bank of China (PBOC) announced technology finance policy measures, including a bond market "technology board" to support tech firms and facilitate technology innovation bonds issuance. The PBOC increased its relending facility to CNY 800 billion and reduced the relending rate to 1.5%, with over CNY 250 billion in technology innovation bonds issued. Future plans involve expanding support mechanisms, including an "innovation points" system and enhanced risk-sharing frameworks.