China’s top financial industry officials say Beijing will press on with reforms
- Leading industry executives say reforms are the only way to attract foreign investors to participate and achieve China’s goal of becoming a financial powerhouse
Foreign investments are likely to gain traction as Beijing moves to level the playing fields between domestic and overseas players, according to a Bank of China executive.
China’s foreign-exchange trading centre, a trading platform under the central bank, is considering launching derivative products linked to interest and exchange rates to attract foreign investors and increase the acceptability of yuan-denominated assets. The Shanghai Futures Exchange said it will launch new low-carbon products to boost trading.
“Only through the opening up, can we possibly attract overseas investors and get them to participate in the process of pricing on the Shanghai Futures Exchange,” Wang Fenghai, general manager of the bourse, said at the conference on Thursday. “That can effectively boost the global influence of the exchange.”
These statements made at the high-profile annual gathering are the latest signals that China will push on with its decades-old policy to reform the economy, despite increasing sanctions from the US and trade rifts with Europe.
A further opening up of China’s financial sector, in which foreign investors can already own majority stakes in banks, brokerages and asset-management firms, is vital to President Xi Jinping’s drive for the country to become a financial powerhouse that can better serve the economy.