TCFA全美华人金融协会

Events

TCFA 2018 Annual Conference Press Release

Release date: 2018-11-22 20:33:05 release: TCFA

The Chinese Finance Association held 24^th Annual Conference in New York

By TCFA

Nov. 11, 2018

New York, NY - The 24^th Annual Conference marked another year of TCFA’s successful operation. Despite the volatile US-China relationship, TCFA’s has demonstrated a persistent determination and courage in extending the cooperation between business communities on both sides of the Pacific.

Business leaders, trade policy experts, technological innovators, and students from renowned colleges gathered together to reflect on the shifting trends in politics, economies, and technologies. This has triggered a lively, open, and honest discussion about the current state of affairs.

TCFA is a non-government and nonprofit organization, and it has played a unique role in fostering a collaborative platform for US-China financial businesses. Founded in 1994, it was made of senior business practitioners in the financial industry and has built active chapters in major cities in China and the US. The membership base has grown over 7000.

In the keynote address, Henry Fernandez, CEO of MSCI, shared his prospective of the inclusion of the China A-share market. Despite the recent market volatility, he expressed a constructive view on the future development of the market. Meanwhile, he thought there remained to be key areas where breakthroughs were still needed. Mr. Fernandez was interviewed on the stage by Ramy Inocencio, a multi-platform anchor and correspondent from Bloomberg.

This year’s conference agenda focused on two themes: trade policy and blockchain technology. And both topics were addressed by subject experts. In the morning keynote address, Craig Allen, President of the US-China Business Council, and a participant of the first China International Import Expo held recently, stressed that the upcoming meeting between President Xi and President Trump at the G20 would be consequential to the relation between the two largest economies. Although trade relations have worsened amid rising tariffs by both, Mr. Allen noted the enormous political will to come to a deal.

Feng Xiao, Vice Chairman and Executive Director of China Wanxiang Holding delivered the afternoon keynote address, by presenting a rich potential for the blockchain technology. Mr. Xiao continued to believe the unique return profile offered by cryptocurrency as an attractive alternative asset, despite the recent fall in prices.

The lunch keynote address was made by Patrick Durkin, Managing Director at Atlas Merchant Capital. Mr. Durkin struck an impressively optimistic tone over US-China relations, and he expected disruptions to be temporary and believed cooperation the only option for either side.

Panelists on the global economic outlook session (moderator Henry Mo, TCFA President-Elect) discussed the challenges faced the global economy. Michael Gapen, the Chief Economist of Barclay highlighted the shifting trend in global politics, towards nationalism and unilateralism. The current trade dispute between the US and China is a symptom of such a shift, and it will likely drag economic growth, according to Mr. Gapen. Constance Hunter, Chief Economist from KPMG, agreed with the view of moderating US economic growth, and added that heavily indebted major economies will face challenges in an environment of rising interest rates. Ebrahim Rahbari, Citigroup’s Chief G10 Strategist and Global Head of FX Analysis, noted increasing signs of late cycle but the market still had some tailwind. Mr. Rahbari emphasized China’s economic trajectory is critical to global assets, and echoed Mr. Gapen’s concern of a deepening division among US-China trade issues.

This year’s investment panel (moderator Maggie Jiang, TCFA Former President) was filled by female investors from renowned institutions. Ming Cen, Managing Director, Perella Weinberg Partner, made a stronger case for an upcoming recession, and recommended investing defensively. Mei Gao, thought even with the consensus view of late cycle dynamics, China’s asset offers a great value after the recent selloff. Seema Hingorani, Founder & Chair from Girls Who Invest, Ex-CIO of NYC Pension Fund, highlighted the legal and practical constraints for responsible investment. Ouma Sananikone, Director of Board at MIC, Former CIO of Aberdeen Asia Pacific Income Investment Co, noted persistent demand for infrastructure, similar to what was driving the Belt-and-Road initiative.

Cross-border and overseas investment panel (moderator Jing Lu, TCFA EVP) featured Robin Hu, Chairman and CEO from Broad Resources Investment; Jacob Kuang, Deputy CEO of Haitou Capital; David Foulke, CFO from Tiger Shares; Luke Tang, General Manager of TechCode; and Jeff Zhang, Partner of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

Merit Janow Dean at School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, shared her perspective on the current trade affairs, and put the current situation in the context of her experience in the WTO Appellate Body and Assistant US Trade Representative. She was interviewed on the stage by Susan Feng, U.S. News Chief of Yicai Global.

Blockchain panel (moderator Linjia Zhou, TCFA EVP) focused on the future application of the uprising technology, by Patrick Dai, Founder & CEO at Qtum Foundation, Wilfred Daye, Head of Financial Markets of OKCoin USA Inc., Catherine Li, US Founding Partner & COO from ChainDD, Sheng Liu, Chief Software Architect of Union Mobile Financial Technology Co., Daniel Nathan, Partner and Global Co-Chair of Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Practice at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP., and Kevin Shtofman, National Blockchain Lead and Technology Strategy Lead at Deloitte LLP.

The China investment panel (moderator Christine Zhao, TCFA Board Director) featured seasoned investors, including Eddy Chow, CEO at Homaer Asset Management Company Hong Kong, Andrew Sun, Director of Product at Wind, Song Teng, CEO of Haitong International USA, Sheng Wang, Chief Strategist at Shenwan Hongyuan Group, and David Yan, Former President of TCFA and Partner of Shanghai Vstone Capital Co. Ltd.

The Fintech panel (moderator Yalin Zhu, TCFA Board Director) featured Adil Abdulali, President & Chief Science Officer at Protégé Partners, Xuan Chen, Managing Director at HOPU-ARM Innovation Fund, Jin Hu, CEO at Gloria Group, Lee Lin, Co-founder & CEO of RentHop, and Lily Xu, Assistant President of China Unicom Americas.

Concurrent with the panel discussion, this year annual conference invited six Chinese financial and technology firms (Bank of China, Haitong International Securities Group, Haitou Capital, Homaer Financial, ChainDD, and China Unicom) to join the job fair. The conference also elected the new President for TCFA, Henry Mo, Chief Economist of AIG, and six new Directors of the Board.

Links to Media Reports

CCTV: Interview with Henry Fernandez; Interview with Craig Allen.

Bloomberg

美中贸易团体：特朗普和习近平的会晤有望令贸易战停火
2018-11-13 14:34:21.156 GMT

记者 Yueqi Yang、Ye Xie
【彭博】--代表波音和沃尔玛等大型美国企业的一个贸易团体认为，美国和中国有望在两国领导人月底的会晤上达成贸易战“停火”协议。

美中贸易全国委员会主席Craig Allen周日在纽约表示，美国在11月30日至12月1日的二十国集团峰会期间推迟更多的对华商品关税具有“合理可能性”。他当天在参加全美华人金融协会年会期间接受彭博采访时认为，两国甚至还有“较小的机会”取消针锋相对的关税。

“我感到谨慎乐观，” 曾在欧巴马政府担任商务部中国事务副助理部长的Allen周日发表主旨演讲时说。他对中国方面近期采取的允许美国运通合资公司筹备银行卡清算机构等措施表示欢迎，称这表明“北京为达成协议做好了准备”。

在中美元首近半年来首次公开披露的电话交谈中，特朗普和习近平双双表达了乐观态度，提高了外界对两国达成贸易协议的期许。美国此前已宣布对中国2000亿美元的商品加征10%的关税，并将在1月1日将税率进一步上调至25%。

据不具名的知情人士透露，美国财长努钦和中国国务院副总理刘鹤上周五通了电话。双方对话没有产生任何具体结果。香港《南华早报》周二报道，预计刘鹤很快会访问华盛顿。

Allen在采访中告诫，备受期待的特朗普-习近平会晤仍存在达不成任何成果的可能性。美中关系严重恶化后，现在两国只有不到三周的时间去弥补分歧和重建互信。不过他认为，习近平在本周召开的亚太经合组织领导人会议上发出的任何积极信号都会增加达成协议的概率。

在上个月曾率领美国企业家代表团会见中方官员的Allen看来，美中两国可能达成的贸易协议会包含以下五个要点：
* 中国大量采购美国商品，实质性削减对美贸易顺差
* 呼应习近平在上海的讲话，做出近期扩大开放和放宽限制的承诺
* 制订中长期美中磋商的日程和议程，涉及中国国企改革、产业政策、过剩产能和储蓄等
* 同意接受在国家安全等领域存在的分歧
* 推进世贸组织改革的磋商

欲联系记者请洽:
Yueqi Yang New York yyang492@bloomberg.net; Ye Xie New York yxie6@bloomberg.net
欲联系编辑请洽:
Kean Zhang kzhang65@bloomberg.net
Jacob Gu、Shiyin Chen

Trump-Xi Meeting May Defuse Trade Tension, Industry Group Says

2018-11-13 14:34:28.910 GMT

By Yueqi Yang and Ye Xie

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. and China may declare a truce in their trade war during a meeting of the two countries’ leaders later this month, according to an industry group representing the largest American companies from Boeing Co. to Walmart Inc. There are “reasonable probabilities" that the U.S. could postpone additional tariffs during the meeting at the Group of 20 in Argentina from Nov. 30-Dec. 1, in exchange for further opening up of markets and reforms by China, said Craig Allen, president of the U.S.-China Business Council. There’s even a “small chance” that the two countries could rescind existing tariffs targeting each other, he said in an interview Nov. 11 on the sidelines of the Chinese Finance Association’s annual conference in New York. "I am cautiously optimistic," said Allen, a former Commerce Department official dealing with China, in a speech at the conference. The recent announcements from China, including allowing American Express Co. to become the first foreign payments company to build a network there, signal that “Beijing is ready to deal,” he said. Expectations for a Sino-U.S. trade deal have increased this month after Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping expressed optimism in their first publicly disclosed telephone conversation in almost six months. The U.S. has imposed 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports. The tariffs are due to increase to 25 percent on Jan. 1. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He spoke by phone on Friday, according to people briefed on the matter, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the topic. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported Tuesday that Liu was “expected” to visit Washington shortly. In the interview, Allen cautioned that the much-anticipated Xi-Trump meeting could still yield nothing. The two sides have less than three weeks to resolve their differences and rebuild trust after a significant deterioration in the bilateral relationship. But any positive signal Xi sends during the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit this week could increase the chance for a deal, he said.

A potential trade agreement would include the following five points, according to Allen, who led a delegation of American firms to meet with Chinese officials last month:

* Major purchases of U.S. goods by China to reduce the bilateral trade deficit

* China’s commitment to open up and liberalize in the short-term, which would mirror Xi’s speech in Shanghai earlier this month

* A schedule and an agenda for U.S.-China talks on the medium and longer-term issues, such as China’s reforms of state-owned enterprises, industrial policies, and excess capacity and savings

* Agree to disagree in areas such as national security issues

* A process to talk about reforms at the World Trade Organization

--With assistance from Jacob Gu.

To contact the reporters on this story:

Yueqi Yang in New York at yyang492@bloomberg.net; Ye Xie in New York at yxie6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael P. Regan at mregan12@bloomberg.net;

SINA: Interview with Henry Fernandez; Interview with Michael Gapen; Interview with Constance Hunter; Interview with Sheng Wang.

Tencent: Interview with Henry Fernandez.

World Journal: Conference Report.

Sing Tao Daily: Conference Report; Interview with Li Liu.

Wall Street Multimedia: Conference Report; Interview with Robin Hu; Interview with Bo Liu.