China: Visit by the Lord Mayor of London
Published 9 October 2014
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This article is no longer current. Please refer to Overseas Business Risk - China
Summary
The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Fiona Woolf, will visit Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen between 9-15 October. A chance to build on the success of September’s UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) and deepen cooperation in insurance, securities, carbon trading, two-way investment, RMB markets and on the Shanghai Free Trade Zone.
Detail
The Lord Mayor’s visit is well timed as it follows shortly after the UK-China 6th EFD between the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne and Vice-Premier Ma Kai in London in September. The EFD served to cement London’s position as a global RMB hub. Key outcomes included the UK announcement of its intention to issue RMB-denominated sovereign debt in London and the successful issuance of a RMB2 billion bond by China Development Bank; the announcement by CCB of its intention to issue debt in London and the agreement that the UK will be included as a destination for investment when China launches the RMB Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (RQDII). The Lord Mayor will be able to build on this progress. During her visit to three cities she will meet senior politicians and business leaders to discuss how The City of London can support the further development of China’s fast growing financial sector.
In Beijing the Lord Mayor’s meeting with the China Security Regulatory Commission will look to deepen collaboration in asset management and capital market development. A meeting with the China Insurance Regulatory Commission will aim to strengthen reinsurance and maritime insurance collaboration.
As well as meeting the Mayor of Beijing, The Lord Mayor will call on the People’s Bank of China to discuss Green Finance and speak at a London Stock Exchange IPO event. Meetings with China Development Bank, Harvest Fund and the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China will demonstrate support for their investment activity in the UK. The Lord Mayor will also launch the Mandarin edition of ‘Welcome Ashore’- a guide to financial services institutions setting up in the UK, produced by Deloitte, UKTI and TheCityUK.
The visit to Shanghai will see a further strengthening of its relationship with The City of London, building upon their MOU on financial and maritime services co-operation. A Mayoral meeting is expected to touch upon continued development of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ) which celebrated its first anniversary recently. Earlier in the day, The Lord Mayor will have addressed an event on UK-China co-operation on ‘afterwards regulation’ in the FTZ- hosted by Sir Gerry Grimstone and attended by industry leaders and senior Chinese officials.
The Lord Mayor will support the UK’s Maritime Services sector at Maritime London’s fifth ‘International Shipping Forum’- with other engagements in Shanghai including participation in a seminar highlighting how financial services can facilitate the growth and expansion of small and medium enterprises overseas.
In Shenzhen the Lord Mayor will open a UKTI/Huawei hosted IP seminar, followed by a Carbon Trading event and the first London-Qianhai RMB Internationalisation Forum, hosted by UKTI and the Qianhai authorities. The southern China leg of the visit will also include the signing a Friendship Agreement between the Law Society of England &Wales and Shenzhen Lawyers Association, and a meeting with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
Comment
Financial services sector reform, including the continuing development of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone and Qianhai, is key to successful transition towards a more balanced Chinese economy. China also has a great desire to build the relationships and skills necessary for its businesses to successfully ‘go global’. The Lord Mayor’s visit will allow the City of London to showcase the ability of our financial and professional services companies to support those objectives.
Disclaimer
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