People's Bank of China

The People's Bank of China (PBC, commonly abbreviated PBOC) is the central bank of the People's Republic of China. It formulates and implements monetary policy under China's central-bank and commercial-bank laws, manages the renminbi, supports the operation of payment and settlement systems, holds and manages official foreign-exchange reserves, and contributes to financial stability and financial development. Unlike an independent central bank in the conventional Western model, the PBC operates within the state and Communist Party institutional structure and implements policy under the direction of the State Council and the Party's financial-governance bodies. The institution was created on 1 December 1948 through the merger of three Communist Party-controlled regional banks: the Huabei Bank, Beihai Bank and Xibei Farmers Bank. After the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949, it became the country's sole central bank and also performed commercial-banking functions. During the single-tier banking era, the PBC handled deposit-taking, lending, payments, currency issuance and central-bank responsibilities, while other financial institutions were either subordinated to it or operated as specialized divisions. Its institutional role changed substantially during the reform era. In 1969, the PBC was placed under the Ministry of Finance as a bureau, but it regained ministerial status in 1978. Beginning in 1979, China created a two-tier banking system by separating specialized state banks from the PBC. Its remaining commercial operations were transferred to Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in 1984, leaving the PBC with an increasingly focused central-bank mandate. The 1995 People's Bank of China Law formally confirmed its central-bank status and assigned it responsibility for monetary policy and macroeconomic stability. The PBC was reorganized again during the 1990s and 2000s. Nine regional branches were established in 1998 to reduce the influence of local governments over monetary operations. The institution also helped restructure state-owned banks, developed electronic interbank infrastructure, supported foreign-exchange-market reforms and expanded credit-information services. Its direct supervisory responsibilities were progressively redistributed to specialized regulators, including the China Securities Regulatory Commission in 1992 and the China Banking Regulatory Commission in 2003. In 2008, ownership of Central Huijin was transferred to China Investment Corporation, ending the PBC's direct role as a major holder of financial-sector stakes. In the twenty-first century, the PBC has used interest-rate tools, reserve requirements, open-market operations, standing lending facilities, medium-term lending facilities and targeted structural lending programs. It has also supported renminbi internationalization through bilateral currency-swap agreements and helped establish or administer systems for deposit insurance, credit reporting, electronic payments and financial-market clearing. The bank played a significant liquidity and policy role during the global financial crisis and later became involved in regulating systemically important financial holding companies. The PBC has increasingly incorporated financial inclusion, green finance and climate-related policy into its work. It issued credit guidance related to energy conservation and emissions reduction, supported green bonds and green lending, and launched the Carbon Emission Reduction Facility in 2021 to provide relatively low-cost central-bank funding for qualifying emissions-reduction projects. It is also a founding member of the Network for Greening the Financial System. A major institutional restructuring took effect in 2023. The nine regional branches created in 1998 were abolished and provincial branches were restored, while county-level branches were consolidated into city-level structures.

The People's Bank of China was founded on 1 December 1948 during the final phase of the Chinese Civil War. It was formed by merging the Communist Party's Huabei Bank, Beihai Bank and Xibei Farmers Bank. The new institution was initially headquartered in Shijiazhuang and moved to Beijing after the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949. During the first decades of the People's Republic, the PBC operated as the country's central and commercial bank. Other banks were nationalized, subordinated to the PBC or converted into specialized institutions. This single-tier model allowed the PBC to issue currency, allocate credit, process payments and finance government-directed economic activity. During the Cultural Revolution, its commercial banking operations were suspended. In 1969, the State Council converted the PBC's head office into a bureau of the Ministry of Finance, reducing its institutional status and staffing. The reform period reversed that demotion. In 1978, the PBC was separated from the Finance Ministry and restored to ministerial rank. China then began building a two-tier banking system. The Agricultural Bank of China and Bank of China were separated from the PBC in 1979, the People's Construction Bank of China became autonomous, and the PBC's remaining commercial activities were transferred to Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in 1984. The PBC was thereby repositioned as a central bank rather than a universal state bank. The institution's modernization accelerated in the late 1980s and 1990s. It developed electronic interbank infrastructure, surrendered securities-regulatory duties to the China Securities Regulatory Commission and received a clearer mandate to manage the currency and preserve macroeconomic and financial stability. The People's Bank of China Law, adopted in 1995, formally confirmed its central-bank role. The former credit-plan system was abandoned in 1998, allowing monetary policy to operate with more market-oriented instruments. The 1998 restructuring replaced provincial and local branches with nine regional branches whose jurisdictions crossed local administrative boundaries. The design sought to limit local-government influence over monetary operations. In 2003, the PBC's direct banking-supervision powers were transferred to the China Banking Regulatory Commission, while the bank retained monetary, macroprudential and financial-stability responsibilities. The same period saw the creation of Central Huijin, through which the PBC helped recapitalize and restructure major state-owned financial institutions. Central Huijin's ownership was later moved to China Investment Corporation in 2008. Since the global financial crisis, the PBC has expanded its international and domestic policy toolkit. It entered bilateral renminbi currency-swap arrangements, developed credit-reporting and payment infrastructure, supported deposit insurance and introduced a wider range of market-based liquidity facilities. Online payment services received a formal regulatory framework in 2010. The bank also became involved in the oversight of significant financial holding companies and served as secretariat for the Financial Stability and Development Committee after its establishment in 2017. Green finance became an increasingly visible part of the PBC's policy framework. Earlier guidance addressed energy conservation and emissions reduction, while the 2016 green-finance framework provided a broader institutional basis for green lending, bonds and investment. The PBC subsequently used collateral rules and targeted refinancing to encourage environmental financing, including the Carbon Emission Reduction Facility launched in 2021. The 2023 Party and state-institution reform again changed the PBC's structure. The nine regional branches were abolished, provincial branches restored and lower-level branches consolidated. The National Financial Regulatory Administration assumed responsibilities for financial-holding-company supervision and financial-consumer protection. The changes narrowed the PBC's direct supervisory footprint while reinforcing its central-bank functions. Pan Gongsheng has held the governor and Party committee secretary positions since 2023. The People's Bank of China emerged from efforts during 1947 and 1948 to unify monetary and financial administration in the liberated areas. The Huabei Bank, Beihai Bank, and Northwest Farmers Bank were consolidated, and the People's Bank of China was formally established in Shijiazhuang on 1 December 1948. Nan Hanchen became its first general manager and later its first governor. The institution issued the first renminbi and, after the founding of the People's Republic in October 1949, became the country's national issuing bank and a central component of the new government's fiscal and financial system. During the planned-economy era, the PBC performed a much broader range of functions than a contemporary central bank. It served as the principal bank for enterprises and government units, handled payments and deposits, issued currency, and implemented the state's credit plan. The banking system was progressively reorganized as economic reforms deepened. A separate central-bank framework developed in the 1980s, while specialized state-owned banks and other commercial institutions assumed ordinary banking activities. The 1995 People's Bank of China Law provided a statutory foundation for the bank's central-bank role and clarified its responsibilities for monetary policy, currency management, and financial stability. The PBC's institutional environment continued to evolve in the 1990s and 2000s. It supported the modernization of the banking system, development of interbank markets, reform of foreign-exchange administration, and preparation for greater financial openness. The bank also played a major role in managing monetary and financial conditions during China's rapid industrialization and integration into global trade. In 2002, Zhou Xiaochuan became governor and served until 2018, a period that included China's accession to the World Trade Organization, major exchange-rate and financial reforms, the global financial crisis, and subsequent efforts to contain leverage and systemic risk. The global financial crisis of 2008–2009 brought greater attention to the PBC's use of liquidity management, credit policy, and macroeconomic coordination. In the following decade, the bank used reserve requirements, open-market operations, lending facilities, and structural tools to influence liquidity and direct support toward selected sectors. It also participated in reforms involving interest-rate liberalization, the renminbi exchange-rate regime, capital-account administration, and the international use of the renminbi. Yi Gang succeeded Zhou Xiaochuan as governor in 2018 and continued the institution's emphasis on financial opening, risk prevention, monetary-policy transmission, and market-based reform. The PBC has periodically shared financial-regulatory responsibilities with other national bodies. The China Banking Regulatory Commission, China Insurance Regulatory Commission, and later the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission handled important sectoral supervision functions, while the PBC retained central-bank and macroprudential responsibilities. The 2023 restructuring of China's financial-regulatory architecture strengthened the role of the National Financial Regulatory Administration for much of the consolidated financial-sector supervision framework, while the PBC continued to focus on monetary policy, macroprudential management, financial stability, payments, and related central-bank functions. In parallel, the bank became a leading institution in the development of the digital renminbi. Pilot programs expanded from controlled technical trials to broader public, retail, wholesale, and cross-border experiments. The e-CNY work reflects the PBC's effort to modernize payment infrastructure, preserve the role of central-bank money in a digital economy, and improve payment resilience and inclusion. Under Governor Pan Gongsheng, appointed in 2023, the bank has continued balancing growth support with inflation monitoring, exchange-rate stability, debt and property-sector risks, financial opening, and the resilience of China's banking and payment systems. Today, the PBC remains an active central bank rather than a conventional consumer-facing financial-services company. Its principal outputs are policy decisions, currency and reserve management, financial infrastructure, official statistics, regulatory and administrative measures, and central-bank facilities. Its actions affect domestic credit and liquidity conditions and are closely followed by international markets because of China's importance to global trade, commodities, capital flows, and the international monetary system.

• 2023

  Branch network restructured

  [1]People's Bank of Chinaen.wikipedia.org

  Regional branches were abolished, provincial branches restored and lower-level structures consolidated.

• 2023

  Pan Gongsheng became governor

  [4]People's Bank of China leadership pagepbc.gov.cn

  Pan Gongsheng became governor and Party Secretary during a further reorganization of China's financial-regulatory system.

• 2021

  New Beijing headquarters opened

  [1]People's Bank of Chinaen.wikipedia.org

  The PBC inaugurated a new head-office building on Beijing Financial Street.

• 2020

  Digital renminbi pilots expanded

  [3]People's Bank of China official websitepbc.gov.cn

  The PBC and participating institutions broadened public testing of the central-bank digital currency in selected Chinese cities.

• 2018

  Yi Gang became governor

  [5]People's Bank of China reference articlezh.wikipedia.org

  Yi succeeded Zhou Xiaochuan as governor amid continuing monetary, financial-opening, and risk-management reforms.

• 2015

  Deposit insurance introduced

  [1]People's Bank of Chinaen.wikipedia.org

  China established a formal deposit-insurance system.

• 2009

  Proposal for reform of the international monetary system

  [6]Zhou Xiaochuan reference articlezh.wikipedia.org

  Governor Zhou publicly discussed reform of the international reserve-currency system after the global financial crisis.

• 2003

  Banking supervision separated

  [1]People's Bank of Chinaen.wikipedia.org

  The China Banking Regulatory Commission assumed direct banking-supervision responsibilities.

• 2002

  Zhou Xiaochuan became governor

  [6]Zhou Xiaochuan reference articlezh.wikipedia.org

  Zhou began a long tenure during which the bank addressed financial reform, exchange-rate policy, crisis management, and renminbi internationalization.

• 1998

  Nine regional branches created

  [1]People's Bank of Chinaen.wikipedia.org

  The PBC replaced provincial and local branches with nine cross-jurisdictional regional branches.

Showing the 10 most recent.

China's state central bank and core monetary-policy, currency-management and financial-infrastructure institution China's national monetary authority and central bank, positioned as the institution responsible for monetary stability, financial-system resilience, currency management, and core financial infrastructure rather than as a commercial banking brand.

• Central-bank policy · 1948

  Monetary-policy operations

  The PBC uses reserve requirements, open-market operations, policy lending, interest-rate guidance and structural facilities to influence liquidity, credit conditions and macroeconomic activity. Its toolkit has evolved from administrative credit planning toward a mixture of market-based and targeted instruments. The bank conducts open-market operations and uses reserve requirements, lending facilities, rediscounting, and other instruments to influence liquidity, credit conditions, monetary transmission, and macroeconomic stability.

• Currency · 1948

  Renminbi issuance and currency management

  The PBC manages issuance and circulation of the renminbi, supports currency stability and administers related monetary and foreign-exchange functions. It also contributes to the gradual international use of the renminbi through cross-border settlement and swap arrangements. The PBC is responsible for issuing and managing the renminbi currency system, including circulation, cash infrastructure, and measures intended to preserve the integrity and orderly functioning of the national currency.

• Financial infrastructure

  Payment and settlement infrastructure

  The bank operates or supports major national payment, clearing and settlement infrastructure, including electronic interbank systems. These systems connect financial institutions and provide the technical foundation for domestic payments and monetary-policy transmission.

• Credit information · 2006

  Credit Reference Centre

  The Credit Reference Centre provides credit-reporting infrastructure and information services intended to improve lenders' assessment of borrowers and support more disciplined allocation of financial credit.

• Green finance · 2021

  Carbon Emission Reduction Facility

  Introduced in 2021, this structural refinancing facility provides eligible financial institutions with relatively low-cost central-bank funding linked to qualifying carbon-reduction lending. It is part of the PBC's broader effort to use monetary and prudential tools to expand green finance.

• Financial stability · 2015

  Deposit Insurance Fund Management

  The PBC has supported China's deposit-insurance framework and the institutional management of the deposit-insurance fund, which is intended to protect eligible depositors and contribute to banking-system stability.

• Central-bank digital currency · 2020

  Digital renminbi

  The digital renminbi, or e-CNY, is a digital form of central-bank money developed through pilots involving retail payments, public services, wholesale applications, and selected cross-border use cases.

• Liquidity facility

  Central-bank lending facilities

  The PBC provides a range of lending and refinancing facilities for eligible financial institutions. These tools support liquidity management and can be targeted toward policy priorities such as agriculture, small businesses, housing, or technological development.

• 2024

  Former central bank deputy governor Fan Yifei given death sentence with reprieve, life imprisonment in first-instance bribery case

  On October 10, 2024, the Huanggang Intermediate People's Court at first instance found that Fan Yifei, former deputy governor of the central bank, accepted more than 386 million yuan in bribes, and sentenced him to death with a two-year reprieve, to be commuted to life imprisonment and then held in prison for life. The conduct spanned his tenures at institutions including China Construction Bank, China Investment Corporation, and the central bank.

  Source

Read more

• 2021Carbon Emission Reduction Facility

  China

  The PBC launched targeted refinancing for financial institutions lending to qualifying emissions-reduction projects.

  Outcome. The facility added a structural monetary-policy instrument supporting climate-related lending.

  Source
• 2016Green Financial System framework

  China

  The PBC participated in the development of national guidance for building a green financial system, covering green credit, bonds, funds, disclosure and related market infrastructure.

  Outcome. Green finance became a more explicit component of China's financial-policy framework.

  Source

• 2023

  Reorganized the branch network and supervisory responsibilitiesStrategy

  Background

  Party and state institutional reforms sought to clarify the division between central banking and financial regulation.

  Action taken

  The nine regional branches were abolished, provincial branches restored, lower-level branches consolidated and selected supervisory functions transferred to the National Financial Regulatory Administration.

  Aftermath

  The PBC's role became more concentrated on monetary policy, currency, payments, macroprudential policy and financial stability.

  Source

• 2023

  Continued monetary and macroprudential support during regulatory restructuringStrategy

  Background

  China's financial-regulatory responsibilities were being reorganized while policymakers addressed growth, debt, property, and financial-stability concerns.

  Action taken

  Under Governor Pan Gongsheng, the PBC continued using monetary-policy, liquidity, macroprudential, and financial-stability tools within the reconfigured institutional framework.

  Aftermath

  The bank retained responsibility for monetary policy, macroprudential management, payments, and related central-bank functions while broader sectoral supervision was consolidated elsewhere.

  Source

• 2020

  Expansion of digital renminbi pilotsProduct launch

  Background

  Digital payments and privately operated platforms had become central to everyday commerce, increasing the policy importance of a digital form of central-bank money.

  Action taken

  The PBC expanded controlled e-CNY trials with commercial banks and local governments, including consumer-payment and public-service scenarios.

  Aftermath

  The pilots continued to broaden geographically and functionally, although the program remained subject to staged testing and policy evaluation.

  Source

• 1998

  Created nine cross-jurisdictional regional branchesStrategy

  Background

  The reform sought to reduce local-government influence over monetary operations and improve national policy implementation.

  Action taken

  Provincial and local branches were abolished and replaced with nine regional branches.

  Aftermath

  The regional structure remained until the nationwide institutional restructuring of 2023.

  Source

• 1979

  Adopted a two-tier banking structureStrategy

  Background

  China began transitioning away from a single institution performing all central and commercial banking functions.

  Action taken

  Specialized state banks were separated from the PBC, and the PBC's commercial activities were progressively transferred elsewhere.

  Aftermath

  The PBC evolved into a dedicated central bank while specialized banks handled commercial activity.

  Source

• 2023

  PBC branches reorganized nationwide[1]People's Bank of Chinaen.wikipedia.org

  Regulation · Leadership change

  Nine regional branches were abolished, provincial branches restored and county-level structures consolidated as part of a broader state-institution reform.

• 2021

  Carbon Emission Reduction Facility launched[1]People's Bank of Chinaen.wikipedia.org

  Product launch · Regulation

  The PBC introduced a structural refinancing facility intended to channel lower-cost funding toward qualifying carbon-reduction projects.

• 2015

  Deposit-insurance system introduced[1]People's Bank of Chinaen.wikipedia.org

  Regulation

  China introduced a formal deposit-insurance scheme, later reorganized through a PBC-related deposit-insurance management company.

• 2003

  PBC loses direct banking-supervision authority[1]People's Bank of Chinaen.wikipedia.org

  Regulation

  The creation of the China Banking Regulatory Commission transferred direct banking-supervision responsibilities away from the PBC.

• 1979

  PBC commercial banking functions separated into a two-tier banking system[1]People's Bank of Chinaen.wikipedia.org

  Other

  China began separating specialized state banks from the PBC, ending the institution's earlier monopoly over both central and commercial banking.

• 1948

  PBC established through merger of three regional banks[1]People's Bank of Chinaen.wikipedia.org

  Other

  The institution was created on 1 December 1948 by combining the Huabei Bank, Beihai Bank and Xibei Farmers Bank.

1. 1People's Bank of Chinaen.wikipedia.org
2. 2People's Bank of China official websitepbc.gov.cn
3. 3People's Bank of China official websitepbc.gov.cn
4. 4People's Bank of China leadership pagepbc.gov.cn
5. 5People's Bank of China reference articlezh.wikipedia.org
6. 6Zhou Xiaochuan reference articlezh.wikipedia.org
7. 7关于我们pbc.gov.cn
8. 8中国人民银行 国家外汇管理局关于进一步便利境外机构投资者投资银行间债券市场有关事项的通知pbc.gov.cn
9. 9财政部 中国人民银行 金融监管总局关于实施居民购房贷款贴息政策的通知pbc.gov.cn
10. 10Former central bank deputy governor Fan Yifei given death sentence with reprieve, life imprisonment in first-instance bribery casespp.gov.cn