In March 2009 China’s State Council determined that the city of Shanghai would become a global financial center by 2020. In late 2018 to early 2019 AmCham Shanghai surveyed 26 executives in financial services and affiliated sectors to determine how close Shanghai was to achieving this ambition. We later conducted interviews with several respondents. Although the city has made great strides since 2009, respondents argued that Shanghai remains far from its goal. We believe there are several ways to increase the city’s attractiveness as a center for international capital, accelerate its progress toward achieving its 2020 ambitions and alleviate the concerns of our members and the international financial services community.
Key Issues
Window guidance. Foreign banks believe the communication of window guidance is provided earlier to local banks than to their Western peers. A similar bias can be seen in China’s lack of openness to foreign financial institutions. Whether banks, insurance companies or asset managers, there is an inescapable sense that China still shields domestic financial firms from foreign competition.
Overregulation. Regulation of Shanghai’s financial markets is inappropriately tight, especially IPOs. By continuing with an approval rather than registration process, China crimps the expansion of entrepreneurial firms, forcing companies to look elsewhere for equity listings. The government has indicated it will change the current process, but it should do so sooner rather than later.
Transparency. Financial regulators should provide greater transparency and consistency in the enforcement of regulations as well as ensure that regulators’ decisions are not subordinate to political expediency. Greater transparency would also improve the city’s reputation as a financial center.
Capital controls. China must remove capital controls. In the absence of such a decision, Shanghai will remain China’s dominant financial center, but its aspirations to be an international center will remain unfulfilled.
Lack of high-quality professionals. Shanghai must increase its supply of high-quality financial professionals. International financial centers require a culture of innovation and the ability to bring in global talent acts as a catalyst for that.
Recommendations
For Shanghai to become a global financial center on par with London or New York, we recommend:
1)Removal of capital controls
2)The renminbi become fully convertible
3)Ending arbitrary, government-backed interventions in the stock market
4)Internet restrictions be lifted in the city’s financial zone
5)The city establish a financial skills training academy
6)Banks and other financial institutions create and institutionalize world-class ethics training