MILAN, Jul 10 (Class Editori) -- The authorization to issue the first Panda bonds on the Chinese market, for the first time organized by a foreign institution, Cdp, together with Bank of China, is expected any minute and will serve to give a breath of fresh air,in the amount of 750 million euros, to Italian SMEs committed to export or produce on the Chinese market.
This is what has emerged this morning in Milan, testified by a high attendance of Chinese managers and officials, led by Finance Minister Liu Kun and the new president of Bank of China Liu Lange. The Italian Minister of Economy Giovanni Tria has opened the Italy-China Financial Forum 2019.
In the setting of Palazzo Marino, headquarters of the municipality of Milan, the Chinese representation composed of over a hundred people, has visually highlighted the favorable moment and commitment on the development of bilateral relations, after the signing of the Mou on the Belt & Road Initiative by of the Italian government on last March.
Also from a strictly financial point of view the Mou is creating new opportunities for Italian companies. The 750 million that will be collected by Cdp and Boc, of which 150 were already ‘booked’, will also partly benefit the 60 companies participated by Cdp in China that are currently developing a turnover of 3.5 billion euros.
"We want to create a more structured financial support for companies in China to face the growing demand for Made in Italy", underlined Cdp CEO Fabrizio Palermo in his opening speech at the forum, without specifying the investment selection criteria proposed for financing requests and above all the conditions of such investments.
“We also have contacts with Chinese funds and we want to support the plan for the entry and expansion of our subsidiaries in China, including Snam Rete gas and Ansaldo Energia”, he concluded.
The forum was attended by the three main Italian banks historically present on the Chinese market, Intesa Sanpaolo, Unicredit and Mps, joined by Assicurazioni Generali, which by virtue of an ultra-ten-year agreement with China National Petroleoum Corporation is the largest foreign insurer in China, where it is recording steady growth both in the life insurance sector, still highly regulated, and in non-life insurance sector.
The Intesa Sanpaolo group is ready to seize the growth in demand for financial products in China. President Gian Maria Gros-Pietro stressed this on the occasion of the launch of the Italy-China Financial Forum 2019. “We have already signed two MoUs (memoranda of understanding), we are very satisfied with the agreements signed in China, a country that has been growing for years at very high rates, but more rapidly as regards the growth of income and savings. It is estimated that in 2022, households with financial resources exceeding 100,000 euros will be around 300 million,” explained Gros-Pietro.
“In China we have set up a company called Yi Tsai, meaning 'Italian talent', that will distribute investment products similar to those we distribute in Italy. We asked for the authorization and for the time being the application was accepted for evaluation. We are working with the Chinese government, which is very open to the intervention of a European investor, especially an Italian one, because Yi Tsai is 100% owned by Intesa Sanpaolo,” said Gian Maria Gross Pietro, president of Intesa Sanpaolo. “We intend to develop our business in collaboration with Chinese operators and in particular with the municipality of Qingdao and with other investors linked to the local authorities or Chinese government.”
Minister Tria, in his opening speech, insisted on trade relations between the two countries that have experienced "an increase of the exports from 9 billion euros in 2010 to 13.2 billion in 2018, against stable imports of 30 billion. China represents only the 3% of our total exports while for our main European competitors the rate has doubled, so there are ample margins of improvement that should be explored.”
The strong imbalance in the commercial competition between Italy and China, which now sees China as the front-runner, is also contrasted by divergences in official data. Chinese speakers have repeatedly quoted the figure of 54.2 billion euros as the sum of bilateral exchanges, while the ICE, based on Istat data, always mentions just over 44 billion euros, a notable difference that probably comes from various customs sources. Chinese customs sources probably take into account Italian goods that passed through third countries before arriving in China.
(Source:Class Editori)
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