November 6th, 2016, New York: The Chinese Finance Association (TCFA) celebrated its 22nd Annual Conference, in the Marriot Marquis Hotel in Times Square, entitled “China and the World at the Crossroads, Will the New Economy Spur Growth Despite Global Uncertainty?” The conference featured more than 30 distinguished speakers, attracted 907 registered attendees, 12 recruiting firms, and over a dozen media partners. An estimated 900 new membership applications and additional talent details from existing TCFA members were submitted. TCFA welcomed a couple of hundred guests from China, Washington DC, Boston, Los Angles, Chicago, Charlotte, Baltimore, and other cities, while the majority of attendees came from the New York metropolitan area.
For the past two decades, the TCFA conference has been offering a premium platform for engaging in critical dialogues about world economic development, capital market dynamics, and the latest business trends. The conference was comprised of a series of keynote speeches and panel discussions by distinguished business leaders, academic experts, and policy makers.
Main Conference Ballroom and Welcome Address.
Six Keynote Addresses.
"For everyone here today, TCFA is a community where we build trust and seek the next new idea, the next new business opportunity, and the next new lifetime partner", said Maggie Jiang, the incoming TCFA President, at the opening remarks of the conference.
This year’s agenda examined the risks from persistent economic challenges and elevated geopolitical uncertainties globally, and assessed the possibilities of moderating those risks through technological innovations and the rise of “new economy”.
In his keynote address, Bin Qi, Executive Vice President of China’s sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corporation, examined historical episodes of recession and made a strong case for China to transform its bank-reliant financial system into a more market-based one. Doing this will help the world’s second largest economy to overcome economic difficulties, both domestically and from overseas, he said.
Five Panels.
TCFA Management Team and Job Fair
The Global Economic Outlook panel featured Steven Englander, Global Head of G10 Strategy at Citigroup; John Lonski Chief Economist at Moody’s; and Neal Soss, Vice Chairman of Credit Suisse Economics Research. The panel identified key economic trends worldwide, including developments in demographics, weaknesses in merchandized trade, an over-reliance on monetary stimulus, and an inadequacy of fiscal spending.
Responding the sluggish economic outlook, Robert Johnson, President of Institute for New Economic Thinking and former Chief Economist for the US Senate Banking Committee explained how the new economy might be beneficial both socially and economically. Specific examples that he gave included social welfare efforts to reduce the inequality gap, a sustainable framework to solve Europe’s political and financial struggle, and technological innovations to further improve living standards among the population from developing nations.
Challenging economic fundamentals have also spurred professional asset managers to respond with effective investment strategies. This was discussed by panelists Reza Ali, Founder and CIO of Prosiris Capital Management; Michael Germino, President of Key Square Group; Ian Morris, Senior Managing Director at Blackstone; Edward Qian, CIO and Head of Research of PanAgora Asset Management; and Yibin Zhang, Managing Director of Haitong International Securities. The session was moderated by Xinyu Liu, Managing Director of Blackstone.
China's cross-border investment in U.S. corporations offered a bright spot in the economic outlook. Chen Xu, President & CEO of Bank of China USA, highlighted a recent boom in this sector. He argued that a liberalized regulatory environment would encourage mutually beneficial outcomes, with Chinese companies enjoying better financial returns, and the U.S. benefiting from more local jobs. In addition to economic cooperation, John Chiang, the 33rd Treasurer of California, also emphasized the importance of cultural diversity. Diversity is an essential element not only in the Californian economy, the U.S. state with the largest Chinese population, and but also to the U.S. overall.
Public policy can critically impact business development. Weihua Ma, former President of China Merchant Bank, explained how China's economic policy interacted with operations of its banking sector in the past, identified areas for growth in the future, and highlighted the potential risks.
The panel discussion on geopolitical and policy uncertainties was led by Angela Sun, Head of Strategy and Corporate Development, Bloomberg L.P. This dedicated panel containing Torsten Slock, Chief International Economist at Deutsche Bank; Marshall Sonenshine, Chairman of Sonenshine Partners; and Anne Van Praagh, Managing Director of Moody’s, identified the fundamental causes to the extremely divisive political dynamics within and between major economic powers globally.
The last two panels discussed China's rapidly-growing FinTech industry, which has taken advantage of the country's financial reform and the digital revolution. Innovative entrepreneurs from China’s top internet-finance industry shared insights from their business experience, and expressed cautiously optimistic outlook about future growth. The FinTech panel included: Fan Bao, Founder & CEO of China Renaissance; Yihan Fang, CEO of Yirendai; Jun Qian, CPO of Lufax; Soul Htite, CEO of Dianrong.com; Eugene Zhang, GP of TEEC Angel Fund. The New Economy panel was composed of: Robin Hu, Chairman & CEO Broadresources Investment; Huajun Li, CEO of PJ.com; Liping Shao, President of Bank of Langfang; Zhilei Tong, Founder of Chinese Online; and Chenkun Ye, Founder of Homaer Financial.
About TCFA
The Chinese Finance Association (TCFA) is a non-profit organization aimed at facilitating the exchange of ideas, knowledge and information on research and practice in finance between the U.S. and China. It was founded as a non-profit organization in 1994. Headquartered in New York, TCFA has grown into a professional organization with over 6000 registered members and 14 local chapters globally in Boston, Washington DC, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Charlotte, Toronto, London, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
Since its establishment, TCFA has served as a bridge between the U.S. and China in the field of finance by organizing a broad range of activities including annual conferences, professional seminars and hosting delegates from the Chinese government and Chinese corporations. This non-profit, non-government organization is run entirely by a group of passionate volunteers, from the board of directors to every event assistant, without a single full-time staff.
The TCFA wants to express its sincere gratitude to our long-term sponsors, advisers, board, executive team, and volunteers who have helped to make our events possible. We look forward to seeing you at the next conference!