Editor’s note for June 8, 2023
A note for Access newsletter readers from Jeremy Goldkorn.
Dear reader:
Shanghai’s biggest annual finance gathering, the Lujiazui Forum, today opened its 14th session since it began in 2008. This year’s theme is “Global Financial Opening-up and Cooperation: New Drivers of Economic Recovery.” (You can find a detailed schedule, including the names of speakers from China and abroad here, in Chinese.)
It’s the first major public event for the new National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA), which was announced at The National People’s Congress in March. The NFRA is co-hosting the forum together with the Shanghai municipal government and the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).
Lǐ Yúnzé 李云泽, head of the NFRA, gave a speech outlining his agency’s current priorities, which are guiding the financial industry to serve the real economy, preventing systemic risks, and expanding the opening of the financial sector.
Li said “We warmly welcome foreign-funded institutions with sound operations and excellent qualifications to expand their business in China,” but as Reuters notes, “skepticism runs deep,” citing Noah Fraser, managing director of the Canada China Business Council, who asks: “There’s a charm offensive, but are they backing it up with any actual black-and-white meaningful policy changes?”
Our Word of the Day is: National Financial Regulatory Administration (国家金融监督管理总局 guójiā jīnróng jiāndū guǎnlǐ zǒngjú).
—Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief
