CFWC was first created in 1998 to supervise the financial system on behalf of the CCP and to prevent deviations on the part of CCP-appointed managers.

It was proposed by the staff of the Central Finance and Economics Leading Group (CFELG) and pursued by Zhu Rongji with the support of Jiang Zemin and Li Peng.

[1] Some have interpreted this to be evidence of the fact that Wen was being groomed and tested for the position of premier, since he clearly lacked the experience to run effective financial policy.

The CFWC was abolished at the 16th Party Congress in late 2002, and most of its functions were transferred to state regulatory bodies.

It was reestablished in 2023 under CCP general secretary Xi Jinping after wide-ranging reforms to change the Party and state structure, together with the Central Financial Commission.