China’s Ministry of Science and Technology, the People’s Bank of China, the National Financial Regulatory Administration, the China Securities Regulatory Commission and three other central agencies jointly issued a set of policy measures to accelerate the build-out of a technology finance system, aiming to expand financial support for major national science and technology tasks and technology-focused small and medium-sized enterprises across the full innovation lifecycle. The package spans venture capital, bank credit, capital markets, insurance, bonds and fiscal tools. Measures include establishing a “National Venture Capital Guidance Fund”, expanding the equity investment pilot for financial asset investment companies to the provinces covering 18 pilot cities and supporting insurance funds’ participation, and improving venture capital exit channels including pilots for private equity fund unit transfers and in-kind distribution of listed shares, alongside encouragement of private equity secondary funds. On credit, it calls for optimizing structural monetary policy tools and expanding the quota and scope of relending facilities such as the science and technology innovation and technical transformation relending programme, creating standards and a recommendation mechanism for identifying eligible tech firms, and encouraging banks to set up dedicated technology finance units and branches. It also proposes pilots for technology enterprise acquisition loans in selected banks and cities, increasing the maximum loan share of transaction value to 80% and extending maximum tenor to 10 years. For markets, it seeks stronger support for tech firms’ equity financing and listings, continued support for qualified pre-profit tech issuers, and the creation of a bond market “technology board”, including making high-quality science and technology innovation bonds eligible as benchmark market-making instruments and expanding interbank tech innovation bond products. Additional elements include developing policy guidance and coordination mechanisms for technology insurance, with pilots for risk-sharing arrangements in areas such as major technology projects, pilot testing and cybersecurity, and a fiscal toolkit that includes interest subsidies, insurance subsidies, risk compensation and a special guarantee programme for technology innovation. The measures also extend nationwide use of an “innovation points” scoring system linked to relending and guarantee programmes, support regional pilots and intellectual property finance ecosystem pilots in selected provinces and cities, and promote cross-border channels including QFLP and other cross-border financing facilitation pilots. A cross-agency coordination mechanism will be established, led by the People’s Bank of China and the Ministry of Science and Technology, including regular meetings and evaluations of policy consistency and financial policy impacts for major technology finance measures.

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