QINGDAO - Wealth management products (WMPs) have been booming in China in the past few years, totalling 12.8 trillion yuan (about 2.1 trillion U.S. dollars) by the end of May, a senior official of China's central bank said Saturday.

The growth of China's WMPs market had been at a rate of between 60 and 80 percent annually for a few years before it decelerated to 30 to 40 percent in 2013, Pan Gongsheng, vice governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), said at a forum in eastern coastal city of Qingdao.

While the focus of China's WMPs market development used to be on mobilizing social resources to support the growth of the real economy, the authorities would do more to ensure the value of people's financial assets preserved and increased, Pan told the forum.

This is not only a financial issue, but also a major economic and social issue, as it involves the readjustment of the income distribution system and the economic restructuring, he added.

Regulation of the WMPs market should be strengthened to control risk and push forward the healthy development of the sector, Pan said.