China's premier calls for tighter forex reserve oversight

China’s premier Wen Jiabao called Saturday for better management of the country’s foreign exchange reserves and new steps to help small businesses get access to capital, The Wall Street Journal reported.  Wen said at a financial conference that Beijing will strengthen the oversight of its financial markets, boost confidence in China’s stock markets and allow private capital to invest in banks and insurers. “[The government] will steadily proceed with efforts to make the renminbi convertible under capital account to improve its management of the foreign-exchange reserves,” said Wen, reiterating that China will continue to improve its currency’s exchange rate mechanism with an aim of making renminbi more flexible. “Some problems and potential risks still exist in China’s financial industry. Financial institutions should take effective measures to help ease funding difficulties faced by small businesses as quickly as possible,” said Wen, adding that China will continue to allow its provinces and municipalities to sell bonds to shore up local finances, and to improve systems for initial public offerings, delistings and dividend payouts this year.