On March 22, the State Administration for Financial Regulation recently released the “Management Measures for Commercial Banks’ Agency Sales Business” (hereinafter referred to as the “Measures”), and relevant department heads answered questions from reporters regarding the “Measures”. 1、 What is the background and main content of the formulation of the Measures? In recent years, commercial banks have rapidly developed their consignment business, with an increasingly diverse range of consignment products and types, and a wider customer coverage. On the basis of continuously strengthening the responsibilities of financial product issuers and managers in relevant regulatory systems, it is necessary to further clarify the obligations of commercial banks as sales agents. To this end, the General Administration has formulated the “Measures” aimed at promoting the standardized and orderly development of commercial banks’ consignment business. The Measures consist of eight chapters and 54 articles, mainly including the following content: Chapter 1 General Provisions, which clarifies the conditions and basic principles that commercial banks should meet to carry out consignment business. Chapter 2: Internal Management System for Sales Agency Business, clarifying that commercial banks need to establish and improve management systems, business systems, internal management, consumer protection mechanisms, and other mechanisms to carry out sales agency business. Chapter 3: Management of Cooperative Institutions, Strengthening the Management Responsibility of Commercial Banks for Cooperative Institutions, Clarifying the Requirements for Admission Review and Exit Mechanism of Cooperative Institutions, and Clarifying the Legal Responsibilities of Commercial Banks and Cooperative Institutions. Chapter 4: Admission Management of Sales Products, Strengthening the Responsibility of Commercial Banks for Admission Management of Sales Products, and Clarifying Due Diligence Requirements. Chapter 5 Sales Management: Standardize the promotion and agency sales behavior of commercial banks. Chapter 6: Management of the Term of Contract Sales Products, clarifying the obligations that commercial banks should fulfill during the term of contract sales. Chapter 7 Supervision and Management, clarifying the reporting requirements and regulatory measures for commercial banks to carry out consignment business. Chapter 8 Supplementary Provisions stipulate the implementation time of the Measures, etc. 2、 What are the requirements for commercial banks in the management of cooperative institutions and product access management under the Measures? The Measures strengthen the management responsibility of commercial banks towards cooperative institutions in terms of admission requirements, exit mechanisms, signing procedures and contents of consignment agreements, management of related party transactions, and attribution of responsibilities. For cooperating institutions that have already been admitted, regular review and evaluation are required. For institutions implementing exit, it is required to provide good customer service for existing products. In terms of product admission for consignment sales, due diligence requirements are specified by category. From the perspective of strengthening risk control, relevant departments of commercial banks are required to conduct comprehensive evaluations of certain products in the admission process and obtain approval from the bank’s senior management. 3、 What regulations does the Measures provide for the promotion and sale of consignment products by commercial banks? The Measures require commercial banks to establish and improve a monitoring and management mechanism for the entire process of agency sales, and make specific provisions for promotional materials, information inquiry, product display, suitability management, sales personnel management, traceability management, etc., including the need to develop consistent sales product display rules for similar products, carefully evaluate the appropriateness of customer purchases, put forward targeted requirements for sales management of customer groups such as the elderly and those with limited civil capacity, and strengthen the qualification and behavior management of sales personnel. 4、 What obligations should commercial banks fulfill during the term of consignment products? The Measures stipulate that during the existence period of consignment products, commercial banks should continue to pay attention to important information such as product risk return characteristics, risk rating changes, and information disclosure, and urge cooperative institutions to fulfill their proactive management responsibilities; Urge cooperating institutions to disclose relevant information on consignment products in accordance with regulations; Continuously strengthening customer service, commercial banks should inform customers of the product related information provided by cooperative institutions or assist customers in querying relevant information from cooperative institutions if they request to know about the consignment products. 5、 What are the considerations regarding the implementation time of the Measures? To ensure the smooth implementation of policies, the Measures are scheduled to come into effect on October 1, 2025. Commercial banks will make various preparations in accordance with the requirements of the Measures. When the Measures are implemented, for existing products that do not comply with the provisions of Article 28, the stock can be gradually resolved through natural expiration or other means in accordance with the original agreement.
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