The Lujiazui Forum 2025 announced its opening on the morning of June 18th, attended by the heads of China’s three major financial regulators: the People’s Bank of China (PBC), National Financial Regulatory Administration, and China Securities Regulatory Commission. Central Bank Governor Gongsheng Pan announced eight grand policy measures aimed at enhancing the construction of the Shanghai International Finance Center, including creating an offshore financial “leader” and establishing an international digital currency hub, marking a policy highlight for the center’s development. Professor Lijian Sun, Director of the Finance Research Center at Fudan Development Institute, interpreted these developments in interviews with Dragon TV and Phoenix Satellite Television, noting that the PBC chose Shanghai as the center for the digital RMB international operation due to its six unique advantages: first, Shanghai’s financial market is a global leader in development and scale; second, its financial openness and cross-border service capacity are outstanding, with RMB cross-border collection and payment accounting for 47% of the country; third, financial institutions are highly clustered, with a leading proportion of foreign-funded institutions; fourth, financial infrastructure is perfect, with the CIPS network covering over 120 countries; fifth, the financial talent pool is rich, with high levels of specialization and internationalization; and sixth, there is unprecedented policy support, with central and local governments forming a synergy. The construction of the Shanghai International Finance Center holds strategic importance for the nation as it is the core driver of RMB internationalization, but it also faces serious challenges, including intense international competition, the difficulty of balancing innovation and regulation, a shortage of high-end and complex talents, an uncertain external environment, and geopolitical constraints. Addressing these deep-rooted issues requires the central government to coordinate top-level design and establish a special system of “risk isolation but functional linkage.”

Translated by Ruihan CHEN

Full text in Chinese available at:

https://fddi.fudan.edu.cn/46/1b/c18965a738843/page.htm