Financial Law draft returns to China’s legislature with rules on online marketing and cross-border finance

Facade of the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, where the NPC Standing Committee meets

China’s draft Financial Law (金融法) will go to a second reading at the 25th session of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, which meets in Beijing from November 2 to 6. Huang Haihua, spokesperson for the Standing Committee’s Legislative Affairs Commission, said on October 30 that the revised text adds targeted rules on online marketing and tightens supervision of cross-border financial activity.

Huang listed four main changes since the first reading in June: stronger protection for financial consumers and investors, uniform rules for asset management products and services, provisions aimed at online marketing, and closer oversight of cross-border finance. While the first draft was open for comment from June 26 to July 25, the NPC website received 1,127 comments from 212 people, plus 14 letters. Many asked for tighter rules on internet finance and stronger action against illegal finance, Huang said.

A version published by the Ministry of Justice for comment in March already required financial products to be approved, registered or filed before sale, barred marketers from pushing products riskier than a customer can bear, and said products sold online must also follow internet laws. It also provided for national security review of financial data processing and made conduct outside China that harms its financial security subject to legal liability. The second-reading text has not been published.

Why it matters: One statute would cover financial activity across sectors, so its marketing clauses would reach every app that sells loans, funds or insurance online. The Administrative Measures for Online Marketing of Financial Products took effect on September 30, and the law would put that approach on a statutory footing. Watch whether the new draft treats platforms that only distribute products as regulated parties, and whether the cross-border clauses reach offshore apps that serve mainland users.

Sources: 第一财经 Yicai, October 30, 2026; 每日经济新闻 National Business Daily, October 30, 2026; 中国新闻网 China News Service, October 30, 2026; 司法部 Ministry of Justice, draft Financial Law consultation text, March 2026 (Chinese-language sources, translated)

Related: Chinese banks cut new loan facilitation partners as 19 platforms pass fund audits · CSRC to issue rules on safe AI use in China’s securities and futures industry


Image: N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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