China’s chief central banker said on Friday the country could be more “courageous” in opening its markets, as European and American firms push for greater access to the world’s second largest economy. “Now that we have entered a new stage, we can be more courageous in opening our market to the outside world,” said Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People’s Bank of China, during a news conference on the sidelines of the annual rubberstamp parliament in Beijing. China has been considering opening to foreign financial firms since the late 1990s when it was preparing to join the World Trade Organization, Zhou said, blaming the delay on the global financial crisis. But now leaders have taken the first tentative steps, allowing foreign firms to take majority stakes in financial firms operating in China. Last year, Beijing said it would liberalise foreign access within three years, permitting companies to own as much as 51 percent of financial firms — a welcome move for a key US industry as trade tensions stir between the two countries. And on Friday, deputy governor Yi Gang indicated the shareholding restrictions could be loosened or done away with altogether. “This will reduce the discriminatory treatment of foreign-invested institutions, and bring about equal treatment for domestic and foreign investors,” Yi said during the news conference. But analysts question whether foreign firms will be able to make much headway in the country, with Beijing having delayed the move for so long that the opening may do little to threaten the dominance of homegrown financials. Zhou also tore into cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin but adding that China was still interested in digital units. “We don’t like the idea of creating a speculative product that prompts people to fantasise about striking it rich overnight,” he said. “This is not a good thing.” Last year, China launched one of the world’s strictest crackdowns on cryptocurrency trading and initial coin offerings. Published in Daily Times, March 10th 2018.