BEIJING, May 29 (Xinhua) -- China's banking regulator underlined the importance of treating both the symptoms and root causes of problems in the country's financial industry, Tuesday.

The banking and insurance sectors should steadily prevent risks, Huang Hong, vice chairman of China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC), told a financial forum.

"To address symptoms, resources must be mobilized to tackle problems prone to causing systematic risks. To tackle root causes, efforts must be made to improve equity management and corporate governance," he said.

"The regulator should toughen supervision on banking and insurance products and enhance protection of consumer interests," he said.

"In the meantime, banking and insurance sectors should make a difference in serving the real economy," Huang said. "Support should be extended to the country's key strategies, industries, projects, and weak points in the national economy."

He depicted the banking and insurance sectors as a "damper" of the economy and "stabilizer" of the society as they played a vital role in ensuring supply in sectors such as agriculture, pensions and health care.

Huang called for greater efforts to develop inclusive finance, give micro and small-sized businesses easier access to financial resources, and extend support to high-tech industries.

Prevention of financial risk is key for China in what policymakers called the "three tough battles," namely controlling risk, reducing poverty and tackling pollution.

China announced a merger of the banking and insurance regulators in March in an effort to step up scrutiny. The newly merged regulator was officially unveiled on April 8.