Abstract: The “Belt and Road” (“B&R”) construction has brought great demand for financial services. Promoting the international cooperation of “B&R” financial institutions is one of the important ways to build a financial service system to match supply and demand. With 55 “B&R” countries as samples, this study constructs, by means of principal component analysis, “B&R” international financial institutions cooperation indexes to measure and compare the degree of financial institutions international cooperation between different countries and Chinese financial institutions. Then, indicators are selected from three aspects, namely politics and security, economy and trade, culture and education, to analyze the influence of the aspects on the international cooperation of financial institutions. Empirical result shows that the international cooperation level of “B&R” financial institutions is seriously polarized. The degree of financial institutions international cooperation is influenced mainly by “B&R” countries’ military expenditure, institutional distance, difference of economic freedom, direct investment in China and container throughput of ports. Specifically, the international cooperation of financial institutions between China and other Asian countries is affected more significantly by political and educational factors while that between China and European countries is affected more significantly by economic and cultural factors.

Key words: “Belt and Road” initiative, financial institutions international cooperation indexes, factors influencing the international cooperation of financial institutions