The strongest voice of openness and cooperation is heard by the banks of the Pujiang River, and the 2023 Lujiazui Forum closes. Lujiazui | China | Forum

The 14th Lujiazui Forum closed in Shanghai yesterday. At this year's forum, foreign guests who needed remote connections for the first two sessions are now sitting firmly on stage to exchange speeches. Although international travel is still not easy compared to before the epidemic, they still appear on time in Shanghai. Obviously, they want to actively participate in China's opening-up process and cooperate more deeply with China.

Both on and off the field, the Lujiazui Forum has voiced the strongest voice of financial openness and cooperation.

An extended olive branch

"Recently, I led a team to visit Wall Street and the City of London, which was widely welcomed by financial institution partners in Europe and America." Qi Bin, Deputy General Manager and Deputy Chief Investment Officer of China Investment Co., Ltd., said that according to his observation, many European and American companies are still willing to develop business in China.

He told a joke: "I went to San Francisco a while ago and had a gathering with my Tsinghua classmates who work in Silicon Valley, but a few of them said they couldn't come. Why? Because their company needs to have a conference call with their Chinese business partners."

Is it possible to achieve win-win cooperation between China and the United States? Qi Bin introduced that as of the fourth quarter of last year, the annualized return rate of the China US Industrial Cooperation Fund, which is a partnership between CIC and Goldman Sachs Group, over the past five years was 24%. "We have proven through practical actions that a win-win situation can be achieved between the world's largest and second largest economies."

This win-win cooperation has led many countries to extend olive branches to China. Shanghai has become one of the preferred destinations for cooperation.

"We look forward to cooperating with Shanghai," said Christopher Hayward, Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee of the City of London government. "China is crucial for all UK financial industry enterprises and institutions. Shanghai now has over 1700 licensed financial service institution companies, of which more than 500 are foreign companies, once again proving Shanghai's internationalization. We support further liberalization of the financial market, strengthening bilateral and two-way investment, and aligning global financial regulatory systems."

Luxembourg Finance Minister Yuriko Backes emphasized that Shanghai is committed to becoming a global asset management center by 2025. In 2022, the China Securities Regulatory Commission further emphasized the need for Chinese public funds to further internationalize and encouraged Chinese fund companies to go global. As China continues to pursue returns and diversified investment portfolios, Luxembourg, as the fund center of Europe, will undoubtedly become the preferred location for Chinese asset management companies to establish funds.

On the forum, a guest pointed out that many foreign companies actually do not understand the real situation in China. "We need to have more discussions and exchanges, such as the Lujiazui Forum, which is very good. We should invite international investors to come over, and our investors and government officials should also go out and actively communicate with others to explain what is happening in China clearly. The China Securities Regulatory Commission also constantly communicates with international investors, and this kind of communication is very important," said Fang Xinghai, Vice Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

Do your own thing well

"I used to be in Shanghai, but now I have finally returned," Joseph AMATO, President of Lubbomai Group, said happily on the forum. "I am currently working in New York, and this is the first time since the pandemic that I have had the opportunity to return to Shanghai and visit my friends and colleagues."

Similar to Joseph AMATO, Bruce Karsh, co-founder, co chairman, and chief investment officer of Oak Capital, visited China every year before the pandemic to discuss global dynamics and related investment opportunities with investors. The Chinese market has always been an important topic among them. Now that he has returned to China, he openly expressed his preference for China and Shanghai on the forum: "We will firmly invest in China for the long term. Ten years ago, Shanghai had the first batch of six QDLP managers, and today, ten years later, this number has reached dozens, forming our own ecosystem. We look forward to working together with our partners in this ecosystem and, with the support of the Shanghai Municipal Government, taking this business to new heights."

The excellent business environment, excellent financial infrastructure, and vibrant financial market in Shanghai have made foreign institutions particularly fond of Shanghai. Fang Xinghai specifically listed a set of data——

There are currently 38 foreign-owned private equity fund management companies in China, with 36 headquartered in Shanghai. In recent years, foreign private equity fund management companies have also performed well, with a significant increase in their managed asset size, from 50 billion yuan two years ago to 85 billion yuan. "These foreign private equity fund management companies use different strategies, including macro hedging, high-frequency trading, index enhancement, subjective bulls, and so on. As long as they strictly comply with laws and regulations, as well as the trading rules of the exchange, they should encourage different types of investment strategies to show their talents and create good returns for investors."

Openness and cooperation are being discussed on the field, while off-site openness and cooperation are occurring simultaneously. Another international asset management giant, Schroder, has established a foreign-owned public fund management company in Shanghai, and seven QFLP pilot management enterprises have signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Lingang New Area. The launch of the Shanghai Reinsurance "International Board" will also attract a large number of foreign institutions to participate... Riding the "east wind" of the Lujiazui Forum, the international "circle of friends" of the Shanghai International Financial Center is constantly expanding.

"The key is to do our own thing well. If China's capital market has enough capacity and good returns, foreign-funded enterprises will definitely want to strengthen their connections with China," said Fang Xinghai.

This is obviously about continuing to expand financial openness, exploring more opportunities for global cooperation, and allowing finance to continuously lead economic recovery.