Nine Departments Issue 16 Guiding Opinions to Promote Financial Support for China’s Elderly Care

On December 13, 2024, the People’s Bank of China published the Guiding Opinions on Financial Support for China’s Elderly Care and High-Quality Development of the Silver Economy (the “Opinions”) on its website, which came into effect on December 8, 2024.

The Opinions propose 16 key measures in five areas: supporting the financial needs of different groups for elderly care, expanding financing channels for the silver economy, improving the financial security system, strengthening the foundation of financial services, and building a long-term mechanism. The Opinions emphasize the vigorous development of the first, second, and third pillars of the pension system, further promoting innovation in commercial insurance annuity products, enhancing the design and investment management of elderly financial products, improving financial services for the elderly, increasing financial literacy education and consumer rights protection for the elderly, and intensifying efforts to prevent and combat illegal financial activities targeting the elderly.