2025 Wudaokou Financial Forum | Xiao Gang: Promote the Financial Industry to Strictly Implement the AI Algorithm Filing System

On May 18, at the 2025 Tsinghua Wudaokou Global Financial Forum, former Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Xiao Gang, delivered a speech on "Analysis of the Quarterly Situation of Digital Finance and Digital Economy." Regarding the future development of the digital economy and digital finance, he proposed to deepen the implementation of the "Artificial Intelligence +" strategy and accelerate the establishment of a governance closed loop for generative AI financial applications. On the one hand, it is necessary to promote the orderly and stable use of large models in the financial industry and strictly enforce the AI algorithm filing system; on the other hand, it is also essential to focus on the risk governance of AI technology abuse and further strengthen the governance of the application of large AI models in the financial sector.

Investment enthusiasm in emerging fields such as humanoid robots is soaring.

Xiao Gang pointed out that the digital economy showed a good development trend in the first quarter. In the first quarter of this year, the overall national economy presented a trend of stability and improvement, stabilization and rebound, and stability towards new development. Specifically, the digital economy maintained a good momentum of development. Data shows that the core industries of the digital economy had a remarkable growth in the first quarter, with a growth rate exceeding 10%, far surpassing the GDP growth level during the same period, making a significant contribution to the macroeconomic better-than-expected start.

In addition, the added value of the digital manufacturing industry increased by 11.5% year-on-year, exceeding the growth rate of the entire industry and high-tech manufacturing during the same period. The digital service industry has developed rapidly, with the added value of information transmission, software, and information technology services achieving double-digit growth year-on-year, which is 5 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of the service industry, and has maintained double-digit growth for several consecutive quarters.

In terms of investment in the digital economy, Xiao Gang introduced that this year, under the dual effects of the "Two New" and "Two Important" policies and the recovery of market demand, the investment in core industries of the digital economy has grown rapidly. The enthusiasm for investment in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence and humanoid robots is high, injecting vitality into industrial development. In the first quarter, national fixed asset investment grew by 4.2% year-on-year, an increase of 1 percentage point compared to the previous year, and high-tech industry investment grew by 6.5% year-on-year, far exceeding the national fixed asset investment growth rate. Among fixed asset investments, the growth rate of investment in core industries of the digital economy also achieved double-digit growth, with investment in electronic information manufacturing and information services growing by 10.1% and 10.5% respectively in the first quarter.

In terms of digital consumption, it is also showing a steady upward trend. Xiao Gang stated that the current digital industry and digital consumption have formed a supply-demand synergy, with the coordinated development of digital technology continuously expanding digital consumption scenarios. For example, the growth rate of online food consumption exceeds that of overall consumption, and the rapid development of the old-for-new exchange model further stimulates online consumption. In addition to commodity consumption, the development of digital service consumption is even more rapid. With continuous innovation in digital technology, new "content + experience" scenarios constructed with the help of the internet, artificial intelligence, and the metaverse are continuously emerging, greatly promoting the growth of digital consumption.

It is worth mentioning that this year, the emergence of DeepSeek in the digital finance field has attracted much attention, with many financial institutions connecting to large models represented by DeepSeek. In particular, DeepSeek has achieved AI equality, enabling many small and medium-sized financial institutions to have the conditions and capabilities to apply AI large models, prompting significant changes in the entire financial industry, including banking, securities, and insurance. Through the continuous application of various AI large models, financial institutions further innovate the digital finance development ecosystem, enhancing financial efficiency and customer experience.

Financial institutions are investing more meticulously.

Xiao Gang stated that in the first quarter of this year, regarding the technology investment of financial institutions as a whole, a trend has been observed under the premise of stable growth, which is that "the investments of various financial institutions are becoming more cost-effective."

In the banking sector, the growth rate of financial technology investment in the first quarter has slowed down, and the increase is not as significant as in previous years, but there is a greater focus on the input-output ratio; at the same time, the construction of technology talent teams is being accelerated, and various financial institutions are increasingly emphasizing talent attraction and training based on the importance of capital investment. The securities industry, on the other hand, has demonstrated a high intensity of financial technology investment in the first quarter, which is related to the relatively small base of the securities industry in the past. In previous years, the banking sector invested heavily in financial technology while the securities sector invested less. Starting last year, especially in the first quarter of this year, the securities industry has increased its investment intensity and also places importance on the rationality of the investment.

In addition, another characteristic of digital finance development in the first quarter of this year is the further deepening of the financial data market construction. Financial institutions are actively exploring different development models, and under policy promotion, scenarios and technology jointly contribute to the development of the financial data market. Especially under the guidance of the national data space construction action, each financial institution is taking steps to build data space infrastructure, aiming to activate data elements, promote data circulation, and better unleash the value of data utilization.

Strengthen the governance of generative AI financial applications

In view of the future development of the digital economy and digital finance, Xiao Gang also proposed a series of outlooks.

In terms of the digital economy, he believes that further promotion of its deep integration with the real economy is necessary, and the ultimate goal of developing the digital economy is to enhance the efficiency of the real economy. It is essential to deepen the implementation of the "Artificial Intelligence +" strategy according to the unified requirements and deployment of the central government, leveraging the advantages of China's vast market potential, highlighting AI applications, and further developing from the perspectives of the integration of the digital economy and the real economy, as well as the implementation of the Artificial Intelligence + action plan.

On one hand, it is necessary to further improve the digital economy industrial ecosystem. "How to effectively implement policies such as the increased deduction of R&D expenses, how to promote the adjustment and upgrading of traditional industries and business structures, we need to intensify efforts in these areas," said Xiao Gang. At the same time, it is essential to accelerate the cultivation of a cooperative ecosystem that fosters a virtuous cycle among technology, industry, and finance. The digital economy and digital finance actually involve a virtuous cycle among industry, technology, and finance. Additionally, in order to further promote the development of digital consumption, it is currently necessary to break down some constraints on digital economy consumption.

On the other hand, it is necessary to accelerate the construction of a closed loop of governance for generative AI financial applications. "How to promote the orderly and steady use of large models in the financial industry, for the financial industry, we have very high requirements for safe and accurate handling of business, how to solve these problems?" Xiao Gang believes that the next step is also to strengthen the governance of generative AI financial applications, and it is necessary to promote the strict implementation of the AI algorithm filing system in the financial industry. At the same time, in order to focus on the risk management of AI technology abuse, the next step is to further strengthen the governance of AI large models in the financial field.

In addition, to build a high-quality financial data market, the core is data factors. It is necessary to explore and improve a series of theoretical bases and practical paths for the ownership, pricing, valuation, trading circulation, and incorporation of data factors.

"We are pleased to see that various financial institutions are exploring many aspects in this area, including how to incorporate data assets into the balance sheet, financialization of data assets, financing of data assets, pledging of data assets, and securitization of data assets. Recently, we have also achieved our first data asset securitization, and these explorations are very helpful for us to research this theoretical basis and explore a practical path that fits China's national conditions." Xiao Gang pointed out that the next step is to further accelerate the construction of a trustworthy data space in the financial industry, breaking the existing data silos between financial institutions and between financial regulatory departments. Through the construction of the data space, (to make the data space) usable while also protecting privacy and data security.

(Source: Beijing Business Daily)

Source: Dongfang Caifu Wang

Author: Beijing Business Daily