Members from IMI and the Joint Research Group of PBoC Attended the Annual Conference of Asian Development Bank in Germany
2016-05-07 IMI
The guest of honor session on “New Financing for Asia and Europe and Approaches to Developing Infrastructure” (May 3rd)
Director Ben Shenglin made a keynote speech at the ADB annual conference
On May 4th, IMI and Frankfurt Goethe University, House of Finance co-hosted the roundtable discussion on “the internationalization of RMB and the establishment of RMB offshore market in Frankfurt”. The meeting was attended by Deputy Director Bu Yongxiang accompanied by four experts; Zhang Junbiao, Alternate Representative of the PBoC Representative Office in Frankfurt; Wang Xing, Deputy Consul of the Consulate-General of the PRC in Frankfurt; Chen Han, Member of the Executive Board of China Europe International Exchange (CEINEX); branch managers of the Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China and Bank of Communications in Frankfurt; senior managers of Chinese-funded enterprises including PetroChina; reporters of the Xinhua News Agency, Frankfurt Branch; members from German financial institutions; and teachers and students from Frankfurt Goethe University.
The roundtable discussion on May 4th
In the meeting, Director Ben Shenglin delivered a keynote speech on “RMB Needs Internationalization, and the World Needs Patience”. He introduced the background and significance of RMB, and pointed out the inevitable difficulties in RMB internationalization and the benefit it brings to the world. Deputy Director Tu Yonghong introduced the significant increase in the utilization of RMB by presenting the RMB Internationalization Index, and the prospect that RMB will surpass Japanese Yen and British pound to become the third largest currency. She argued that after the inclusion of RMB in the SDR, RMB internationalization would face economic slowdown, greater exchange rate fluctuations, and greater impact of capital flow on domestic financial market. These risks require increased effort to manage RMB exchange rates and short-term capital flow. The implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative provided new opportunities for RMB internationalization, such as the use of RMB as a pricing and settlement currency of commodities, as an investment currency for infrastructure and industrial park projects, and as a settlement currency for e-commerce.
Director Ben Shenglin (the third on the right) and Deputy Director Tu Yonghong (the first on the right) attended the meeting and delivered keynote speeches
During their stay, members of IMI also visited many financial institutions, such as the German Federal Bank, European Central Bank, German Exchange Group (Deutsche Börse Group), Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), CEINEX, German Savings Banks Association (DSGV), German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), Bank of Communications Co., Ltd. Frankfurt Branch, and the headquarter of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Europe) in Luxemburg. When the research group visited German Federal Bank, Prof. Martin Pontzon of the Cooperation and Technology Department of the central bank introduced the experience on the inclusion of Mark as an international reserve currency, and stressed the importance of maintaining trade surplus and the competitiveness of the real economy. During the exchange with ICBC (Europe), Vice Director General Chen Yuncheng and the officials in charge of the marketing department, risk management department, liquidation department, corporate department, and E-banking department introduced the following issues respectively: the path and model for Chinese-funded institutions to go global; compliance risks; the development of the offshore RMB market in Luxemburg; the influence of the policy change in the cross-border flow of RMB on the offshore market; RMB product innovation in Luxemburg; and the prospect of RMB fund. During the visit at DSGV, Silke Mauch, Director of the financial market relations department, introduced the structure, function, operation and risk management of DSGV as one of the three pillars of German financial system.
Participants of the meeting
IMI’s visit in Europe has been welcomed and supported by the local financial researchers and practitioners, and the result of research on RMB internationalization has been widely recognized. In the future, IMI will deepen cooperation and exchange with SGC on Internet finance and RMB internationalization, actively support RMB in going global, and carry out exchanges with Africa, Latin America, and other regions, to discuss monetary and financial issues and research on RMB internationalization.