Despite the increasing discord between China and the U.S., Switzerland wants to further deepen its cooperation in financial matters with the Far East nation.
Swiss Finance Minister Ueli Maurer exchanged views with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He at a virtual ministerial meeting (yesterday) Wednesday, according to a statement from the Federal Department of Finance (FDF). The two politicians each had a high-ranking delegation at their side.
Maurer and Liu He thus developed perspectives on deepening bilateral relations in the areas of stock market trading, sustainable financial services, asset management, and digital central bank money. The central banks of both countries are known to be working on projects for digital central bank money, although the respective approach differs greatly in terms of the user base.
China is working on a digital version of the yuan for everyone (the «retail» version of a digital currency), while the Swiss National Bank (SNB) is evaluating a so-called «wholesale» version, for the time being, a cryptocurrency reserved for the financial market.
The latest meeting followed similar contacts in 2017 and 2019. The governments of Switzerland and China also want to intensify financial market relations in parallel with the existing free trade agreement. In this context, the Swiss financial center envisages using the opening steps in the Chinese financial market for concrete joint projects.
