PARIS, Oct. 12 (Xinhua Silk Road) -- The China-France Asset Management Forum, co-hosted by Bank of China (BOC) and the French Asset Management Association (AFG), was recently held in Paris, highlighting various types of cross-border industry opportunities.
Representatives from 11 Chinese institutions, including the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE), the China Financial Futures Exchange, and E Fund Management, as well as representatives from the AFG and its 26 member institutions, held in-depth discussions on topics such as access to China's capital markets, cross-border asset allocation, and the business development of international asset management institutions in China.
Philippe Setbon, president of the AFG, said at the forum that China's asset management market is now one of the most active and fastest-growing markets in the world, while France ranks among the top in Europe in terms of assets under management, and there is broad room for cooperation between the two sides. French asset management institutions hope to gain a deeper understanding of Chinese investors' needs, further deepen industry mutual trust with the Chinese side, and jointly expand sustainable and win-win cooperation.
Fan Shilei, chief representative of the PBOC's Frankfurt Representative Office, noted at the forum that under the current international situation, RMB assets are attracting increasing attention from all parties. From the perspectives of resilience, returns, diversification, depth and liquidity, fundamentals, market access, and international recognition, the value of allocating to RMB assets has become more prominent, and the focus of international institutions is shifting more from "whether to look at" to "how much to hold".
Going forward, the PBOC will take a range of measures to make the RMB assets "easier to use, easier to manage risk around and easier to move in and out of". These measures will include expanding RMB bonds' global recognition as eligible collateral, continuing to build out liquidity and risk-management tools, streamlining market entry for central-bank type institutions, and strengthening cross-border links between infrastructure and custodians, etc.
Pei Huiqi, vice director of International Cooperation Department of the SZSE, observed that over the past two years, French institutional investors' interest in the Chinese market has risen visibly, and more and more French and European institutions have traveled to China for fact-finding visits, paying closer attention to technology and growth-oriented enterprises.
At present, the SZSE's ChiNext has more than 1,400 listed companies, about 90 percent of which are high-tech enterprises. In the future, the exchange plans to strengthen mutual learning with French institutions in areas such as environmental, social and governance (ESG), and to enrich products and customized services to meet the needs of French investors, helping further enhance the experience of investing in China.
Xiao Lijun, general manager of BOC Paris Branch, said that the bank will rely on its global and integrated service capabilities to continue improving the cross-border financial services system, deepen practical cooperation with French and European asset management institutions, continue to enrich application scenarios for cross-border RMB investment, financing and asset management, and help promote connectivity between the Chinese and European capital markets. (Contributed by Li Wenxin, edited by Li Xueqing with Xinhua Silk Road, lixueqing@xinhua.org)
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