Financial industry pageant sees 15th anniversary

The 2024 Lujiazui Forum, a financial industry pageant which will celebrate its 15th anniversary this year, will be held in Shanghai from June 19 to 20, local officials said during a press conference on Tuesday.

The theme of this year's Lujiazui Forum will be centered on how China's high-level financial development can help promote world economic growth by addressing the various global uncertainties and opportunities represented by digitalization and low-carbon transition, Zhou Xiaoquan, head of the Shanghai municipal financial regulatory bureau, said during the press conference.

The forum will be comprised of eight plenary sessions, covering hot topics including coordination of international monetary policies, technology innovation built on high-quality development of the capital market, institutional innovation for green finance, financial services provided to the elderly and inclusive finance, said Zhou.

A workshop on the relationship between technology innovation and financial services will be held during this year's Lujiazui Forum. Workshop participants will discuss how multi-level capital flow can improve the capacity of technology industries and how an optimized financing ecosystem can accelerate the development of the artificial intelligence industry, according to Zhou.

Wu Qing, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the country's top securities watchdog, will attend the forum's opening ceremony and deliver a keynote speech. CSRC's Vice-Chairman Fang Xinghai and Shanghai Stock Exchange's Chairman Qiu Yong will deliver speeches on the relationship between technology innovation and high-quality development of the capital market, according to Wang Li, deputy director of CSRC's general office.

The CSRC will also release new capital market policies during this year's forum, said Wang during the Tuesday press conference.

Zhou said Shanghai will promote high-level institutional opening-up of the financial sector on a larger scale.

In particular, Shanghai will make due preparations to build an international financial asset trading platform. More yuan-denominated international futures and options will be introduced in Shanghai.

Progress should be made in the local legislation to facilitate the development of offshore bonds in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone. The local government will explore launching an action plan to facilitate Chinese companies' outbound reaches with better financial services. Cross-border finance and offshore finance should be steadily developed, said Zhou.

The business scope of foreign financial institutions in Shanghai will be further expanded so that complete national treatment will be provided to them, he added.