The Dream Factory of China

Chen Kwan-yiu, president of the Qianhai Institute for Innovative Research, has profound knowledge on Qianhai’s financial industries, and he recently shared a few pieces of advice for the area so that it can build a safe and healthy environment for financial industries.

The economist is optimistic about Qianhai’s future development because the Central Government has put great emphasis on developing the area as a bridgehead along the national “Belt and Road Initiative” strategy, and also to bring the area closer with Hong Kong.

But the next decade needs more solid work to be done in the area. “Qianhai now has the most favorable policies around China to allow it to be forged into a financial hub, and it will work hard with down-to-earth practice to enact those policies,” said Chen.

As for having a balanced and healthy financial ecosystem in Qianhai, Chen has a few suggestions. He said that traditional financial industries like insurance companies and banks should continue to develop along with the emerging financial industries including Internet finance, P2P and so forth.

“A 5:5 ratio between traditional and new financial industries would be a healthy environment for now, because there is still no systematic and effective supervision system for Internet finance,” said Chen, who also suggested that in the future, when supervision systems get more sophisticated, more new financial industries will be developed.

Secondly, the economist advised a balanced combination of financial industries and real economy in the area to avoid an isolated financial industry ecosystem. Real economy includes the trade of real things and the industries such as logistics, technology, real estate, etc., which move these products around the country and the world.

Also, a developed and practical legal system is what Chen regards as one of the most significant projects to be completed for Qianhai and the area should also take larger steps in constructing its infrastructure.

“The speed of construction is faster than before, but Qianhai needs more construction to be done with clear and transparent plans in order to build a community where people can not only work and do business, but also live and enjoy the neighborhood,” suggested Chen.