China has taken substantial steps to open up its financial sector. According to The Wall Street Journal, Fitch, one of the world's top three rating agencies, said on Monday (January 29) that it plans to withdraw from its current joint venture in China, a joint credit rating agency, and also seek to apply for an independent license in China. Earlier, Fitch had sold 49% shares of the United Credit Rating Company it held to Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC for a specific amount not disclosed. The Wall Street Journal quoted an insider to reveal that Fitch's current application needs to wait for the introduction of the relevant Chinese regulatory guidelines. Chinese regulators have recently emphasized the issue of opening up the financial industry. At a recent Davos World Economic Forum, Liu He, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the Central Financial Leading Group, said that the new move to commemorate the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening up will first start with expanding the opening up of the financial industry. China has promised to expand its opening up in the fields of banking, securities and insurance and will implement it one by one this year. China's bond market is a huge market of 11.7 trillion US dollars and overseas rating agencies have always been willing to participate. However, two major rating agencies, Moody's and Standard & Poor's, downgraded China's sovereign debt credit rating last year, adding some uncertainties to China's opening up to the outside world. For overseas rating agencies, how to adapt to China's rating environment will be the biggest challenge. At present, the rating standards at home and abroad are very different. Of the 4599 bond issuers in China, 80% of the bonds have been rated AA or above. The standards of the three major international rating agencies are obviously more stringent. In addition to the bond rating market, more opening up of finance will focus on such areas as banking and insurance. From a financial market point of view, having a larger share of foreign ownership, even leading some financial institutions, expanding the diversity of Chinese financial institutions will have spillover effects on Chinese domestic financial institutions.