The State Council, China's cabinet, closed its third national financial work conference Saturday morning, formulating plans crucial to the country's financial system over the coming few years.

The previous two meetings, held in 1997 and 2002, led to significant policy changes.

Following are the facts and figures of China's financial reforms in recent years.

---The China Banking Regulatory Commission started operation on April 28, 2003.

---The State Council kicked off pilot reform of rural credit cooperatives in June 2003, and had made significant headways in 21 provinces by the end of August 2004.

---The central government selected the China Construction Bank, Bank of China, and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China for share holding reform in September 2003. The three banks have all been listed in Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges.

The overhaul of the Bank of Agriculture, the last of the country's Big Four banks to go listed, is under mulling.

---China fully opened its insurance sector to foreign competition on December 11, 2004. Forty seven foreign insurance institutions had set up 121 operation branches in China by the end of 2006.

---China launched split-share reform on April 29, 2005. Up to 95 percent of the A share listed companies had undergone the transformation by the end of 2006.

---China implemented a more resiliently managed floating RMB exchange rate mechanism on July 21, 2005, which is based on market supply and demand and is adjusted in relation to a basket of major foreign currencies.

RMB has appreciated a combined 4.12 percent against U.S.dollars as of January 18, 2007.

---China fully opened up banking industry on December 11 2006, allowing foreign-funded banks to conduct Renminbi businesses for Chinese citizens.

---China's foreign exchange reserves broke one trillion U.S.dollars at the end of 2006.

--- Deposit balance of financial institutions had surged to 34.8 billion yuan by the end of 2006 from 14.4 billion yuan at the end of 2001.

---Total volume of Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII), the most important institutional investor in China's stock market, reached 90.45 billion U.S.dollars by the end of 2006.

The Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) was the first foreign bank allowed to conduct QFII business.

---Market value of Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges totaled 9.918 trillion yuan as of January 12, 2007. .

Source: Xinhua