The reform of deposit insurance in China: how China evolves from implicit deposit insurance to explicit deposit insurance

ABSTRACT Since the global financial crisis (GFC), deposit insurance, as an essential part of the financial safety net, has been significantly developed to be an effective mechanism to contain bank runs and market fears. Unlike many advanced markets having deposit insurance for years, China has just launched its first explicit deposit insurance scheme, effective from 1st May 2015, remarking that the Chinese financial safety net has been primarily completed. This article not only provides a retrospective analysis of the development of deposit insurance in China, but also comprehensively examines the features of the first Chinese deposit insurance scheme with reference to international principles and standards. Through the analysis, this research tries to explore the features of the first Chinese deposit insurance scheme and argues that the Chinese deposit insurance scheme has to be well designed in consideration of the country specifics.