TCFA Celebrated Its 25th Anniversary in New York
By TCFA
Nov. 10, 2019
New York, NY - The Chinese Finance Association celebrated its 25th Annual Conference with a robust schedule of content-rich keynotes and sessions. Approximately 1,300 of the top industry professionals and students from renowned colleges attended the conference, known as the largest and most respected international gathering of the financial industry held by the Chinese community in the United States.
As a non-government and nonprofit organization, TCFA aims at creating an ideal platform for mutual learning and brainstorming in the field of finance between the US and China. Founded in 1994, the membership base of TCFA has grown over 7,000 by November 2019.
As the signature event of TCFA, the Annual Conference brings industry leaders, key policymakers, innovative entrepreneurs, young professionals, and students together to provide the members with rich and engaging experience, as well as dynamic networking opportunities. This year set a new record for total attendance, surpassing the 1,300 mark for the first time with over 30% increase compared to the previous year. The annual conference has been broadcasted live online for the first time in history, enriching its digital footprint.
TCFA and Sina Finance formed a strategic partnership in increasing media exposure and fostering a deeper connection with the industry participants. Sina Finance established a special column for this year’s Annual Conference, delivering first-hand news to millions of Chinese readers.
In the opening keynote address, Craig Phillips, a former top aide to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, shared his perspective of the potential US-China capital war. He cautioned that any attempt to limit U.S. investors’ portfolio flows into China would have enormous unintended consequences, including an escalation of the current conflict and the retaliation from China. “You would have lower equity prices, higher interest rates, and a fragmented market,” Phillips said. Phillips was interviewed by Maggie Jiang, the former President of TCFA and the SVP of Bank of China.
The lunch keynote address was made by Chen Xu, the President and CEO of Bank of China USA and the Chairman of China General Chamber of Commerce USA.
Jingdong Hua, the Vice President and Treasurer of the World Bank delivered the first keynote speech in the afternoon. He introduced the history of the World Bank and its initiatives to work with emerging market economies’ governments in promoting sustainable finance. He stressed that the power of finance should serve the common good.
Dr. Li Deng, the Chief AI Officer at Citadel and the Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering of Canada gave the second keynote speech in the afternoon, featuring the application of AI and big data in the financial world. He talked about the three major technical challenges unique to investment management, including heterogeneity of big (alternative) data, very low signal-to-noise ratio, and strong non-stationarity with adversarial nature.
Panelists on the global economic outlook session all expressed confidence that 2020 would likely see a gradual recovery of economic growth. The panel was moderated by Mei Gao, the Former Board Director of TCFA and Partner of IDG Capital.
At the panel, Bruce Kasman, the Chief Economist and Head of Global Economic Research of JP Morgan said the rising political uncertainty was a driving factor for the sluggish global economy. He admitted that corporate profitability and inflation could pose risks for future growth, but he anticipated a surprising pick up in GDP growth in the second half of next year.
Sergi Lanau, the Deputy Chief Economist of the Institute of International Finance, predicted a bright outlook for the global economy as well. However, Lanau warned that the stimulus of the tax cut was fading and manufacturing seemed to be in a deepening slump across the globe.
Chris Varvares, the Vice President of IHS Markit and Co-head US Economics at Macroeconomic Advisers, questioned the wisdom of the Fed using three insurance cuts during a period of low unemployment and moderate GDP growth. Varvares expected the Fed to start raising rate in 2021 while remaining optimistic projections about the global economy.
The global investment panel (moderator Kun Gao, TCFA Board Director and AIG’s Head of Quant Equity Research) featured Christopher Rapcewicz, Director of Risk and Operations of Helmsley Charitable Trust; James Sweeny, Chief Economist and CIO America of Credit Suisse; and Irene Tse, CIO, Tse Capital Management.
The global capital allocation panel (moderator Jian Hu, Former Chairman of TCFA and Managing Director of Moody’s Investors Service) discussed the opportunities and challenges in the Chinese and American securitized products markets. The panel featured Steven Abrahams, Senior Managing Director and Head of Investment Strategy at Amherst Pierpont Securities; Winston Chang, Managing Director of Structured Finance Ratings at S&P Global Ratings; Raymond Chen, Vice Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer of Xiamen International Financial Technology and CEO of Hangzhou Xiayuan Asset Management; and Alex Zilberman, Head of CLO and Syndication of Natixis.
The China investment panel (moderator Dr. David Yan, TCFA Former President, and V-Stone Capital Investment partner) featured seasoned investors, including Robin Hu, Chairman, and CEO of Broad Resources Investment; Bryan Lin, US CEO of Huatai Securities; Loretta Liu, Overseas Business Managing Director of Wind Information; Hong Ni, Managing Director of CICC; Jun Qian, Founder of Blue Bay Management; and Michael Ren, Founder of Jinde Asset Management.
The last Fintech panel (moderator Chenyang Wei, Board Director of TCFA and Senior Managing Director & Head of Zenity Holdings New York) featured entrepreneurs, including Seamon Chan, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Palm Drive Capital; Qiang Su, Partner of Kunyuan Asset Management; Charles Wang, Chairman of Academia Capital; Jerry Wang, Founder and CEO of Haitou Global; Yang Xu, Partner of Tiger Brokers; and Stephany Yu, Founder of Sunwater Capital, Greencourt Group and Viinet Inc.
Concurrent with the panel discussion, this year’s annual conference invited renowned Chinese financial and technology firms to join the job fair. The conference also elected the new President for TCFA, David Zhang and six new Directors of the Board.
Media Reports
Sina Finance, 新浪财经
Special Column for the Annual Conference:
Interview with James Sweeney, Credit Suisse
Interview with Deng Li, Citadel
Interview with Sergi Lanau, Institute of International Finance, IIF
Report on the global economics panel
Report on the securitized product panel
Yuan Media, 源媒体
Will US Corporations Successfully Enter China?
Video collection for the conference
Bloomberg
U.S.-China Capital War Is ‘Terrible Idea,’ Ex-Mnuchin Aide Says
Nikkei Asia Review
Trump needs to curb China trade rhetoric: ex-Mnuchin aide
Trump gives Wall Street no clarity, calling China deal 'close'
Wall Street News Agent, 华新社
TCFA Holds Annual Conference in New York
GCTV, 全球华视
The 25th Annual Conference of TCFA Held in New York