Overseas investors at the recently concluded Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai applauded China's innovation and commitment to financial opening-up, reaffirming their dedication to deepening their presence in the market to tap into its vast potential.
At the annual forum, which ran from Wednesday to Thursday this year, multiple government officials delivered speeches highlighting plans to promote high-standard financial opening-up in response to mounting global geopolitical uncertainty.
One of the key measures revealed was a plan by Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), to establish an international operations center for the digital RMB. This initiative aims to advance the internationalization of the digital currency, foster financial market services, and spur innovation in digital finance.
The center's establishment is part of eight measures set to be piloted in Shanghai, including the development of free trade offshore bonds to broaden corporate financing channels and the enhancement of the free trade account system to streamline cross-border trade and investment for enterprises.
Guest speakers at the forum also commended China's advancements in high-tech development and energy transition, while overseas financial institutions identified substantial investment opportunities in the nation’s technology sector
"I see a lot of innovation here. You see the car industry in China. You see AI industry that has so much growth potential for [not only] your country, but for the whole world. So I'm really an optimist. We have to collaborate, we have to work together. We have not so many institutional investors from Germany coming to China right now, but there's a lot of money going and flowing around and I see a lot of ideas coming up here in China. So, I'm confident that institutional investors from all over the world, they have an eye on China, they will invest here. It's worth to come here to China to take a look what's going up here," said Andreas G. Scholz, CEO of dfv Euro Finance Group.
"We're mostly focused on finance and technology. And so certainly we are tracking the development of China's financial centers very closely, including Shanghai of course, firmly established in the top ten in the world now. But we're also very interested in technological development and looking at the steps that China has taken, particularly in its education system to ensure that science, technology takes center stage. So the world is looking at China's technological advantage and seeing the strengths there," said Mike Wardle, CEO of Z/Yen Group.
"We are very involved into the energy transition and de-carbonation of the world. So all what concerns the energy transition is very important for us. There will be more correspondence and more convergence in terms of all the taxonomy regarding de-carbonation. I think this is very important for all of us. It is a major topic of this forum and progress is made, but there are still a lot of progress to be made in order to more align China, Europe and North America on those taxonomies," said Jean-Francois Deroche, senior regional officer of Crédit Agricole CIB Asia-Pacific.
The Lujiazui Forum was created in 2008 as a high-level global platform for government officials, world financial leaders and outstanding scholars to discuss and foster international financial cooperation and further the financial reform and market opening in China. Named after Lujiazui -- the financial district of China’s financial hub Shanghai, the forum also symbolizes Shanghai’s vision of becoming a leading international financial center.
With the theme of "Financial opening up and cooperation for high-quality development in a changing global economy," the two-day 2025 Forum gathered more than 70 policymakers, regulators, and financial leaders from over 10 countries and regions.
Global investors at Lujiazui Forum applaud China's innovation, commitment to opening-up
Global investors at Lujiazui Forum applaud China's innovation, commitment to opening-up
