On 26 December 2018 the Cyberspace Administration of China issued the Administrative Regulations on the Provision of Financial Information Services, which will take effect on 1 February 2019.(1)

According to the regulations, 'financial information services' refers to the provision of information which may affect the financial markets or financial data to users engaged in financial analysis, financial transactions, financial decision making or other financial activities. This broad scope will likely affect various types of entity and individual, such as:

  • financial information publishers;
  • professional research and consulting firms;
  • internet information providers; and
  • operators of We Media.

Under the regulations, parties must obtain the corresponding permits before they can provide various financial information services. In addition, service providers must:

  • engage management personnel who are commensurate with the scale of the service; and
  • establish service specifications regarding information content auditing, data retention, information security, personal information protection and IP protection, among other things.

Further, financial information service providers should indicate precisely their information sources and ensure the traceability of their information, regardless of whether it is in text, image, video or audio format. The regulations also set out the types of information which financial information service providers cannot publish or disseminate.

These regulations follow on from the Administrative Regulations on the Provision of Financial Information Services by Foreign Institutions in China, which were issued in 2009 to regulate the provision of financial information services by foreign institutions.

Endnotes

(1) Further information is available here.

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