Shanghai 21st Century Financial Capital

Over 100 business leaders and entrepreneurs gathered in Shanghai on 7 July as Andrew Scott, Professor of Economics, led a distinguished panel to debate the merits and challenges of the Chinese city as a financial capital as part of London Business School's Business Leaders Series.

 

At London Business School’s ‘Shanghai – 21st Century Financial Capital?’ forum,  Professor Scott remarked that Shanghai is one of the leading financial capitals of the world, but that much more needs to be done if Shanghai is to develop itself further into the global market.

The forum coincided with a field trip to the region for 50 London Business School Sloan students, led by Professor Scott. The students were in the city to meet with senior executives and to visit the Shanghai Expo.

Also speaking as panellists at the forum were Mr Sun Liqiang, Chairman of Xingtai Group and Mr Lim Cheng Teck Lim, CEO and Executive Vice Chairman, Standard Chartered Bank (China) limited, who shared their own experiences.

Professor Scott continued to say that Shanghai’s fundamentals are overwhelmingly strong, however, it is essential to develop and progress its basic financial policies if Shanghai is to develop as a global financial capital. Equally important are having RMB being freely traded and deregulation being in place.

He commented that a global financial centre requires markets, not governments allocating capital and that diversifying banking and wealth management, as well as developing currency services, tax and legal procedures, will all contribute in helping Shanghai become a global capital.

Nevertheless, Professor Scott concluded that there should be no hurry to make Shanghai a global financial centre, as Shanghai has adequate savings and does not need to attract foreign capital. Looking ahead, he feels China is likely to see substantial growth in domestic demand with associated growth in basic banking, insurance, pensions and wealth management.