As the 19^th National Congress of the Communist Party of China reached a successful conclusion, the 2017 5^th Bund Global Financial Summit, organized by Fosun Group, was held in Shanghai Wanda Reign Hotel at the Bund Finance Center (BFC) on November 20th. The event was co-hosted by Yabuli China Entrepreneurs Forum and Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, and was supported by Shanghai Municipal Financial Service Office and the People’s Government of Huangpu District.

Noted guests from around the world gathered for in-depth discussions on financial regulation and the future of finance, focusing on the theme of building the financial Belt and Road. Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Former French Prime Minister, Tu Guangshao, Vice Chairman and General Manager of China Investment Corporation, Wang Zhongmin, Vice Chairman of National Council for Society Security Fund, Chen Dongsheng, Board Chairman of Yabuli China Entrepreneurs Forum and Chairman & CEO of Taikang Life Insurance, Hong Qi, Director of Yabuli China Entrepreneurs Forum and Chairman of China Minsheng Bank, Guo Guangchang, Director of Yabuli China Entrepreneurs Forum and Chairman of Fosun International, Pan Jianwei, Managing Vice President of University of Science and Technology of China and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hu Zuliu, Founding Partner, Chairman & CEO of Primavera Capital delivered excellent keynote speeches on the conference theme. Below are a few excerpts of the speeches.

Chen Dongsheng, Board Chairman of Yabuli China Entrepreneurs Forum and Chairman & CEO of Taikang Life Insurance:

The financial industry needs entrepreneurship and, even more importantly, financiers who have a genuine awareness of risk, vision and innovation. We have always been committed to promoting entrepreneurship in the Chinese financial industry. We can nurture more elite financiers with a global reach to produce a suite of world-class Chinese financial enterprises positioned to compete internationally. After more than 30 years of rapid development, China has entered an era of stability with financial regulations, risk controls and a thriving economy. As a non-governmental forum, the Bund Financial Summit serves as a great complement to the Lujiazui Forum, bringing together all parties to address current issues such as risk mitigation, economic development, and the opportunities of new financial openness. The summit continues to provide a platform for non-governmental entities to meet their responsibilities and to fulfill a historic mission.

Like other Chinese companies, Fosun has experienced significant growth and evolution in the five years since the first Bund Financial Summit. I would like to share Fosun’s current thinking with you. To begin: finance and industry should not be separated. As a key element of the industry process, finance must help address industrial challenges. The Chinese financial industry should have a higher status in the international financial system given that China is the second largest economy in the world. In the future, we will likely see closer collaboration between finance and high tech. Most importantly, Fintech will integrate various industries, leveraging big data, cloud computing, AI and other emerging information technologies to enhance our daily lives. Mobile payment will basically rule out cash and even bank cards. AI-smart-investment-advisors will allow ordinary investors to benefit from superior professional services. The future combination of technology and finance will foster an array of dynamic new products.

Tu Guangshao, Vice Chairman and General Manager of China Investment Corporation:

The Bund has always pursued excellence and leadership, leading the way on new journeys and opening new chapters in the field of finance. Today, at the Bund Financial Summit, we stand on the threshold of a new financial future. The Sino-American manufacturing cooperation fund is our latest effort in financial innovation. With our investment and the national sovereign wealth fund, we seek to achieve a win-win situation generating profits and benefits in the specific regions we invest in. This type of investment will confirm our joint commitment to the new globalization and the construction of the Belt and Road proposed by China. Only in this way can China successfully lead the new globalization, earning the cooperation of the world.

Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Former French Prime Minister:

President Xi Jinping said that in order to further enhance a country’s general financial competence, we must build great and powerful leadership and reinforce a common understanding of the financial area. IMF and various countries in the world believe that China will realize its goal of quadrupling its GDP during the period of 2010-2020 and that its “Double Hundred” development objectives are on track. China has returned to global leadership, and what is important to China is also important to the world. Based on this vision, Europe and China will continue to walk together into a brighter future. If we follow the same path, we will achieve greater results.

Ding Liguo, Rotating Chairman of Yabuli China Entrepreneurs Forum and Chairman of Delong Holdings:

Finance is the core of the modern economy and the key to the advancement of our society. We must build on our foundations, seeking to solve challenges such as financing difficulties and the high cost of financing. We must direct financial resources to promising endeavors and strive to improve the efficiency of finance for the real economy. After five years, we are opening another new chapter. A New Chapter for Finance, the theme of this financial summit, is primarily about returning to our origins while promoting intelligent finance and globalization. The forums such as“How Finance Returns to Serve the Real Economy”and“The Belt and Road Paves the Way for Financial Expansion“ address operational issues, representing a transition from theory to practice while revealing the Bund Global Financial Summit’s sense of mission and responsibility.

Wang Zhongmin, Vice Chairman of National Council for Society Security Fund:

Finance is about integration. Namely, the integration of all entities, whether they be physical, biological or financial. The logic of finance has been strengthened through disruption and redirection, welcoming the era of the Internet and AI. We should promote current finance, accelerate finance, deepen finance and ultimately use finance to serve the real economy.

Hong Qi, Director of Yabuli China Entrepreneurs Forum, Chairman of China Minsheng Bank:

Finance has long been a leader in the application of advanced technology, and now the relationship between finance and technology progresses from cooperation to deep integration. In the future, banks will become “puzzle masters” that integrate pieces of business from different Fintech companies into holistic financial services for consumers through cooperation in business and data by tech companies. Consumers will benefit from one-stop intelligent financial services.

Pan Jianwei, Managing Vice President of USTC, CAS Academician:

After more than a hundred years of development, we are ready for the quantum revolution. At the same time, we seek to address issues such as computing power and privacy protection. In principal, Quantum communication provides perfectly secure communication, enabling us to improve network security, employ ultrafast quantum computing and allow greater perception of the world – this is new quantum revolution. Quantum information is, metaphorically, a nuclear weapon in this revolution, and it will undoubtedly have extraordinary influence on national strength and international competitiveness in the information era ahead. The second quantum revolution featuring quantum information technology is bound to significantly change the progress of human civilization and provide untold opportunities for growth for IT technology leaders. We hope that we can all benefit from this new technology revolution.

Hu Zuliu, Founding Partner, Chairman and CEO at Primavera Capital:

Institutional investors have become aware that the best course for Internet finance is Fintech, which builds the core competitiveness of technology and data. In recent years, global capital markets have increasingly focused on technological innovation, and the power of capital and innovation has rapidly reshaped the world economy. There is enormous potential for cooperation and development among traditional financial institutions, professional VCs, PEs and Fintech companies in China. Chinese Fintech companies will be driven by data science and AI.

A milestone of financial “Belt and Road”: Fosun's invested company Millennium BCP Signs Agreement with UnionPay International to Be First European Issuer of UnionPay Cards in Europe

This partnership is a perfect win-win. By cooperating with more than 1,700 institutions throughout the world, the UnionPay card network covers more than 160 countries and regions. More than 40 countries and regions are issuing UnionPay cards. Fosun, following its mission-based strategy to "Combine China's Growth Momentum with Global Resources” invested in BCP and became its largest strategic shareholder in 2016. Currently, BCP has covered numerous countries and regions along the Belt and Road such as Portugal, Poland, Switzerland, Mozambique, Angola and Macao. When the deal is complete, BCP will combine the advantages of UnionPay in its network, products and services to jointly promote business cooperation with Portugal, Poland and other Portuguese-speaking countries and regions, as well as to provide greater convenience for enterprises and individuals doing business with China.

Initial release of the Bund Financial Development Index

The summit also released the first regional financial development index of Shanghai. The Bund Financial Development Index was jointly developed and issued by Shanghai Financial Association and Shanghai Huazheng Index Information Service Co., Ltd., to provide a comprehensive view of the development of the financial industry in Huangpu District, Shanghai. According to the index report, using 100 as the 2015 baseline, the overall Bund Financial Development Index in 2016 stood at 113.34, up by 13.34% year-on-year.

At the release ceremony, Gao Yun, Secretary of the Party Committee & Governor of Huangpu District, Shanghai said: "Based on the construction of the Bund Financial Cluster, the Huangpu District has made significant progress toward advancing the construction of the Shanghai financial market system, optimizing the composition of functional institutions, strengthening high-quality financial enterprise clusters, deepening the development of new finance avenues, supporting financial services for real economy, inheriting financial culture and building a favorable financial ecosystem. Recently, the government of Huangpu District signed a strategic cooperation agreement with five banking institutions. Through agreement, the government will support banks’ efforts to open up new business segments in Huangpu District, to participate in regional economic and social development, to use Huangpu District as a platform for financial innovation and to explore a more efficient financial service innovation mechanism. The agreement will also help to build a strong interactive mechanism, and to foster a win-win situation for the government, banks, enterprises and other social parties." The Bund Financial Development Index will become a standard annual index following its initial release this year.

The Bund has always been the financial lifeblood of Shanghai. It has gathered many financial institutions, such as China Foreign Exchange Trading System & National Interbank Funding Center (national interbank market), Shanghai Gold Exchange, Shanghai Clearing House, Shanghai Commercial Paper Exchange and Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS). As the influence of the Bund continues to expand, the Bund Global Financial Summit provides an opportunity to promote discussion between the government and business, between private enterprises and state-owned enterprises, and between Chinese investors and foreign investors, and to gather insight for the creation of Shanghai International Financial Center.