TLDR: The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is advancing a comprehensive ‘AI + Finance’ strategy as part of its new fintech development plan for 2025 and a broader action plan targeting 2027. This initiative aims to drive digital and intelligent financial transformation, strengthen regulatory frameworks, foster an inclusive financial ecosystem, and leverage cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence and cloud computing to modernize China’s financial sector.
The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is spearheading the next phase of fintech reform in China with a robust ‘AI + Finance’ strategy, as detailed in its upcoming 2025 fintech development plan and a broader action plan set to culminate by the end of 2027. This strategic push underscores China’s commitment to digital and intelligent financial transformation, aiming to create a financial system deeply integrated with the burgeoning digital economy.
According to an Ainvest report from June 23, 2025, the PBoC’s new fintech development plan for 2025 is specifically designed to accelerate ‘digital and intelligent financial transformation.’ This plan is a continuation of the central bank’s efforts to expand macro-prudential regulation and enhance counter-cyclical policies to bolster economic growth. Key components of this 2025 plan include strengthening the regulatory framework for fintech, developing a stress-test system, and establishing a macro-prudential regulation system for cross-border capital flows. Furthermore, the PBoC intends to advance research and development in digital currency and cultivate a more inclusive financial ecosystem through innovations like e-wallets and peer-to-peer payments, particularly to serve underserved communities.
Complementing this, a new action plan, updated on November 27, 2024, by state organs including the PBoC and the National Development and Reform Commission, outlines a vision for China’s financial sector to ride the digital wave. This plan envisions that by the end of 2027, China will have established a financial system highly aligned with the growth of the digital economy. It emphasizes significantly enhancing the digital management capabilities of financial institutions and improving the adaptability and inclusiveness of digital financial products and services to support national strategies, key economic sectors, and economic weak links.
Central to both plans is the accelerated and regulated use of advanced technologies. The action plan explicitly states the intention to ‘accelerate the regulated use of cloud computing and artificial intelligence to provide accurate and efficient support for the digital transformation of the financial sector.’ This highlights AI’s pivotal role in enhancing the precision and efficiency of financial operations. The strategy also encourages robust cooperation between financial and sci-tech departments within institutions to develop demand-driven digital technologies. Support will be provided for the development of green, smart financial data centers to ensure efficient data storage and utilization, alongside establishing a digital public service platform for the securities and futures sectors.
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Digital finance, with its strong AI component, is identified as one of China’s five key pillars for high-quality financial development, alongside sci-tech finance, green finance, inclusive finance, and elderly-care finance. The PBoC’s overarching commitment is to modernize China’s financial sector, promote stable economic growth, and address the challenges posed by rapid fintech expansion, ensuring both financial stability and consumer protection through close collaboration with local financial regulators.
