Shanghai Holds Forum for Foreign-Funded Financial Institutions

People’s Finance News, April 2—On April 2, the Shanghai Municipal Government held a symposium with foreign-funded financial institutions to hear their suggestions on accelerating the development of Shanghai as an international financial center. At the symposium, representatives of foreign-funded financial institutions shared the latest insights from the global financial community, new trends in how foreign firms expand their business in China, new concepts, and related case studies. They expressed strong recognition of Shanghai’s efforts to deepen reform and opening-up in the financial sector, optimize the business environment, and maintain stability in the financial markets. They also offered suggestions on issues including cross-border data flows, business qualifications, and cross-border finance. Wu Wei, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and the executive vice mayor, thanked foreign-funded financial institutions for their contributions to Shanghai’s economic and social development and the building of an international financial center. Wu Wei emphasized that the national “15th Five-Year Plan” outline clearly calls for accelerating the development of the Shanghai international financial center. He hoped that foreign-funded financial institutions would leverage their advantages of global networks, professional services, and risk-control management; actively participate in high-level financial opening-up; serve as a bridge and link between the China market and the international market; establish more regional headquarters and global functional headquarters in Shanghai; and help support the building of Shanghai’s international financial center. Shanghai will continue to build a first-class business environment that is market-oriented, governed by the rule of law, and internationally oriented, to make it easier for foreign-funded financial institutions to better cultivate and expand in Shanghai and develop plans for China. The heads of 11 foreign-funded financial institutions, including Morgan Stanley Bank, Barclays Bank, Banque de Commerce Extérieur (France), Bank of New York Mellon, Allianz Insurance, China-Sin Union Life, China-US MetLife, Loomis Fund, Temasek, Warburg Pincus, KKR, and others, attended the symposium and delivered remarks. Relevant officials from the Shanghai Municipal Financial Office, the Shanghai Head Office of the People’s Bank of China, the Shanghai Financial Regulatory Bureau, and the Shanghai CSRC attended the symposium. (China News Network)