With President Xi Jinping scheduled to visit the United States in the fall, the pace is picking up for bilateral economic talks. Having completed two rounds of negotiations in Beijing during the past month and additional discussions in Washington, Chinese and American government officials are actively preparing for the seventh annual Strategic & Economic Dialogue (S&ED), set to take place in Washington, DC, in late June.

After decades of deliberation, China instituted a deposit insurance scheme on May 1 that protects RMB and foreign currency deposits of up to RMB 500,000 ($80,500) from bank defaults. This new safety net eliminates the central government’s de facto backing of China’s banking system and shifts liability for lending decisions to the banks themselves.