Translated by Claude, edited by Sinocism.com

Source: Qiushi (求是) | Byline: Pan Gongsheng (潘功胜) | September 16, 2026

Author affiliation: Secretary of the CPC Committee and Governor, People's Bank of China (中国人民银行党委书记、行长)

Original: 深刻认识中国金融结构变迁 提升金融服务实体经济适配性

Finance is the lifeblood of the national economy. Whether the blood flows smoothly depends not only on its total volume but also on its structure. General Secretary Xi Jinping has said that a reasonable and healthy financial structure is a prerequisite for finance to develop in a sustained and healthy way and serve the real economy effectively. In recent years, China's economy has generally operated steadily and moved toward new drivers and better quality, while high-quality development has continually achieved new results. The financial structure has also undergone profound changes in this process. At the same time, as old and new growth drivers shift and industrial transformation advances, optimizing the financial structure and improving the quality and effectiveness of financial services face new and higher requirements. Conducting economic and financial work well now and in the period ahead requires a deep understanding of the internal logic of changes in China's financial structure, dynamic optimization and adjustment of the monetary-policy framework, continued construction and development of a modern financial-market system, and further improvement in how well financial services fit the real economy.

金融是国民经济的血脉。血脉是否畅通，不仅在于总量，更在于结构。习近平总书记指出，合理健康的金融结构是金融持续健康发展并有效为实体经济服务的前提。近年来，我国经济运行总体平稳、向新向优，高质量发展不断取得新成效，金融结构也在这一进程中发生深刻变化。同时要看到，随着经济增长动能的新旧转换和产业结构转型的深入推进，优化金融结构、提升金融服务质效面临新的更高要求。做好当前和今后一个时期的经济金融工作，需要深刻认识中国金融结构变迁的内在逻辑，动态优化调整货币政策框架，持续建设和发展现代化金融市场体系，进一步提升金融服务实体经济的适配性。

I. China's Financial Structure Is Undergoing Profound Change

一、中国金融结构正发生深刻变化

Financial structure can be measured along multiple dimensions, of which the financing structure is the most important. For a long time, China's financing structure was dominated by bank lending and its financial markets were relatively small. In recent years, the share of indirect financing, principally bank lending, has continued to decline, while the share of direct financing, including bonds and equities, has steadily risen. The financial structure is undergoing profound change.

金融结构可以从多个维度衡量，融资结构是其中最重要的维度。长期以来，中国的融资结构由银行贷款主导，金融市场的规模较小。近年来，以银行贷款为主体的间接融资占比持续下降，包括债券、股票在内的直接融资占比稳步上升，金融结构正在发生深刻变化。

In incremental terms, the combined increase in bond and equity financing has surpassed the increase in lending. Before 2013, indirect financing accounted for more than 80 percent of the increase in aggregate financing to the real economy, almost all of it loans. In 2025, aggregate financing to the real economy increased by 35.6 trillion yuan. Corporate bonds, government bonds, and equity financing together accounted for about 47 percent, surpassing loans for the first time. Over the past several years, increased net government-bond financing under a proactive fiscal policy, the use of special-purpose bonds to swap hidden debts, and greater write-offs of nonperforming loans by banks have raised the bond share and lowered the loan share. Even after excluding these factors, the change in China's financing structure is significant. For enterprise financing, the ratio of the increase in corporate-bond financing to the increase in lending rose from 7 percent in 2023 to nearly 20 percent in the first half of 2026.

从增量看，债券和股票融资合计增量已超过贷款。2013年以前，中国新增间接融资占社会融资规模增量的比重在80%以上，基本都由贷款构成。2025年，社会融资规模增量35.6万亿元，其中，企业债券、政府债券和股票融资合计占比约47%，首次超过贷款。过去几年，积极财政政策下政府债券净融资增多、专项债置换隐性债务，银行加大不良贷款核销力度，使债券占比提高、贷款占比下降。即便剔除这些因素，中国融资结构的变化也是显著的。从企业融资看，企业债券融资增量与同期贷款增量之比从2023年的7%上升至2026年上半年的近20%。

In stock terms, the share of direct financing has steadily risen to about one-third. In the early stages of building a modern financial-market system during the 1990s, indirect financing accounted for nearly 100 percent of the stock of aggregate financing to the real economy. With the sustained and stable development of financial markets, by the end of June 2026 the balance of indirect financing had fallen to about two-thirds of aggregate financing and the loan balance to about 60 percent. The balance of direct financing had risen to about one-third, including around 30 percent in bonds. China's financing structure has shifted from domination by indirect financing to coordinated development of direct and indirect financing.

从存量看，直接融资占比稳步升至1/3左右。在20世纪90年代建设现代金融市场体系的早期阶段，间接融资在社会融资规模存量中的占比接近100%。随着金融市场持续稳定发展，2026年6月末，社会融资规模中间接融资余额占比降至2/3左右，贷款余额占比降至60%左右；直接融资余额占比升至1/3左右，债券融资占比升至30%左右。中国融资结构已经从间接融资主导，转向直接融资与间接融资协调发展。

In the allocation of funds, more financial resources are flowing to priority areas and weak links. Over the past decade, real-estate and infrastructure lending fell from more than 60 percent of all new loans to about 10 percent, while loans in the five priority areas of technology finance, green finance, inclusive finance, pension finance, and digital finance rose to more than 70 percent of new lending. In recent years, loans to small and medium-sized technology enterprises have grown at about 20 percent, inclusive loans to small and micro enterprises at an average annual rate of about 20 percent, and green loans and loans to the eldercare industry at double-digit rates, all clearly faster than overall lending. The shift in credit allocation shows that financial resources are concentrating more heavily in priority areas such as scientific and technological innovation, green development, and small, medium-sized, and micro enterprises. This structural change may not necessarily appear as an increase in total lending, but it can improve the efficiency with which funds are used and inject new momentum into high-quality economic development.

从资金投向看，金融资源更多流向重点领域和薄弱环节。近10年来，房地产、基础设施建设新增贷款在全部贷款中的占比由60%以上降至10%左右，金融“五篇大文章”领域的新增贷款占比升至70%以上。过去几年，科技型中小企业贷款增速保持在20%左右，普惠小微贷款年均增速约20%，绿色贷款、养老产业贷款均保持两位数以上的增长，均明显高于全部贷款增速。信贷资金投向的转变，表明金融资源更多向科技创新、绿色发展和中小微企业等重点领域集聚。这种结构变化不一定体现为贷款增量，但能够提高资金使用效率，为经济高质量发展注入新动能。

Financial markets now contain richer forms of activity and have steadily increased in depth and breadth. Since the 18th Party Congress, China's financial markets have gradually developed from a system centered on credit into a modern market system with coordinated development, sound functions, and complete categories across equities, bonds, money, gold, bills, commodities, derivatives, and other submarkets. The real economy now has more diverse financing channels. In equities, more than 5,500 companies are listed on the A-share market, with total capitalization exceeding 110 trillion yuan, second in the world; more than 2,000 are “specialized, sophisticated, distinctive, and innovative” enterprises. In bonds, when the interbank bond market was established in 1997 its outstanding balance was less than 500 billion yuan. Today the total has exceeded 200 trillion yuan, firmly ranking second globally. In the little more than a year since the bond market's “Science and Technology Board” was launched, cumulative issuance of science and technology innovation bonds has reached about 3 trillion yuan, making it an important source of medium- and long-term funding for technology enterprises.

从金融市场看，市场业态更加丰富、深度广度稳步提升。党的十八大以来，中国金融市场逐步从以信贷市场为主，发展成为包括股票、债券、货币、黄金、票据、大宗商品、衍生品等各金融子市场协同发展、功能健全、种类完备的现代金融市场体系，实体经济的融资渠道更加多元。股票市场方面，目前A股上市公司超5500家，总市值超过110万亿元，位居全球第二。其中，“专精特新”企业达到2000多家。债券市场方面，1997年银行间债券市场成立时余额不足5000亿元，目前总规模突破200万亿元，稳居世界第二。债券市场“科技板”落地一年多来，科创债券累计发行约3万亿元，成为科技型企业中长期资金的重要来源。

II. The Internal Logic of Changes in China's Financial Structure