The global financial tsunami trapped the world's major financial centers in the core of the storm. China, the first country to see the dawn of economic recovery, has expressed its strong desire to establish a new international financial order on many occasions. Many economists believe that the pattern of global financial centers will change greatly after the crisis, and the comparative advantages brought by the financial crisis to China will prompt the rapid rise of international financial centers from China. Economist Wu Xiaoqiu even predicted: "new york, Shanghai and London will become the three major international financial centers in the new century." No matter how arduous this challenge is, with the support of China Municipal Government, Shanghai has undoubtedly taken the first step to build an international financial center.

The State Council's Deputy Prime Minister Wang Qishan wrote in the Financial Times earlier that the world should establish a new international financial order, advocate and promote the balanced and diversified international monetary system, and maintain and support the stability of the international monetary system; Promote the reform of international financial organizations and increase the representation and voice of developing countries. Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the Bank of China, also revealed at the G20 Summit that as a representative of emerging economies, China will actively participate in reshaping the new international financial order.

Financial assistance for the rise of great powers

In academic circles, how China's own "international financial center" rises is also a focus topic. Xiao Geng, director of the Brookings Research Center in Tsinghua University, believes that the global financial crisis has greatly impacted the western financial markets, resulting in a large number of brain drain and lack of institutional funds, which provides a rare development opportunity for China. China should seize this opportunity, improve the market environment as soon as possible, and rapidly promote Shanghai to build an international financial center.

Wu Xiaoqiu, director of the Institute of Finance and Securities of Renmin University of China, said recently that the pattern of global financial centers will undergo major changes after the crisis. New york, Shanghai and London will become the three major international financial centers in the new century, each with its own functions and capabilities, and China is fully qualified to become an international financial center in the new century. Wu Xiaoqiu said that if China does not have a financial center in the new century, China's financial rise will still be difficult to achieve, China's sustained economic growth will still be difficult to complete, and China's financial rise is crucial for realizing the transformation from an economic power to an economic power.

RichardYorke, CEO of HSBC China, said: "As China is expected to recover from the economic downturn faster than any other large economy, the importance of China and Shanghai as financial centers may be enhanced."

Idyllization still has a long way to go.

Of course, no matter what comparative advantages China can gain from the global crisis, there is still a long way to go to turn Shanghai into a financial center comparable to Hongkong and Singapore, and even new york and London. Long Yongtu, secretary-general of Boao Forum for Asia, believes that the shift of the center of global economic development from developed countries to developing countries is the general trend, but it should not be expected to happen in a short time.

Because the dollar monetary system and financial system centered on the United States cannot be changed in the short term, the absolute advantages of a large number of technology patents and capital goods mastered by developed countries cannot be changed in the short term. Therefore, China must be prepared for long-term efforts.

Brief introduction of Lujiazui forum

The annual Shanghai economic event-"2009 Lujiazui Financial Forum" will kick off this Friday. The two-day forum, with the theme of "Financial Development and Economic Growth in the Era of Globalization", 100 will be attended by more than domestic and foreign heavyweight political and academic celebrities. Including the State Council's leaders, China's "Three Meetings" and Shanghai's main officials, heads of major domestic financial institutions, well-known domestic experts and scholars, heads of governments of important countries and regions around the world, heads of international economic organizations, senior executives and financial scholars of internationally renowned financial institutions, and market operation experts will all speak at the meeting to discuss topics such as China's economic and financial situation and policies, China's prospects with global financial markets, and opportunities and challenges of Shanghai International Financial Center under the new international financial structure. Authorized by the forum as an overseas cooperative media, this newspaper will report this wisdom collision all the time.

The rankings of financial centers in Tokyo and Sydney have fallen sharply.

After the financial crisis broke out, many cities pessimistically declared that their economic situation would deteriorate to the level of decades ago. As the hardest hit area of this financial crisis, the New York City Government once told reporters that the local economy may regress to the level of the economic crisis in the 1970s. Since last year, the losses of Wall Street have exceeded 36 billion dollars (about 280 billion Hong Kong dollars), and the number of its employees has also decreased by a quarter.

London and new york are in the top two.

Due to the sharp drop in overseas demand and the continuous appreciation of the yen, Japan's economy, mainly driven by external demand, has suffered a heavy blow and is currently experiencing the worst recession in 35 years. The Japanese government's economic report of June 5438+February last year described the current economic situation as "deterioration", which was the first time in seven years. According to the preliminary statistics of Eurostat, the economic decline of the euro zone 15 countries in the fourth quarter of last year was 1.5%, which was the third consecutive quarter of negative growth in the euro zone, indicating that the economic recession in the euro zone was further deepened.

However, the Financial Times recently reported that according to the latest research results, London and new york have proved that they are more adaptable than their comparable competitors, and they still rank among the top two financial centers in the world, despite the severe impact of the financial crisis. In the ranking of global financial center index in March this year, London topped the list with 78 1 point; New york ranked second with a difference of 13; Singapore ranked third with 687 points, Hong Kong ranked fourth with 684 points, Zurich ranked fifth and sixth with 659 points and Geneva ranked sixth with 638 points.

The ranking of Beijing and Shanghai has not improved.

Other cities have also been hit hard by the financial crisis. The rankings of Tokyo and Sydney dropped sharply, with Tokyo dropping from seventh place to 15 and Sydney dropping from 10 to 16. Some cities that were originally in the "second tier" of the list are catching up-in sharp contrast to Tokyo and Sydney, Vancouver and Montreal in Canada rose five places, ranking 25th and 26th respectively.

Remarkable Shanghai and Beijing have not significantly improved their rankings because of the financial crisis. In the Asia-Pacific region, Shanghai ranked 35th, down 1 place; Beijing 5 1, down 4 places; Taipei, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, which were included in the survey for the first time, ranked 4 1, 45 and 50 respectively; In addition, Seoul ranked 53rd, down five places.

Shanghai financial center tends to be a "big country model"

The adjustment of the global strategic layout of international financial centers is often consistent with the shift of the global economic center of gravity. For example, after the industrial revolution, London became an international financial center; After World War II, new york's status as an international financial center rose. Since the 1980s, the focus of the world economy has gradually shifted to the Asia-Pacific region. The outstanding performance of China, Indian, ASEAN and Northeast Asia makes a new round of strategic adjustment of the layout of international financial centers tend to the Asia-Pacific region.

The "big country model" needs a lot of domestic demand.

Due to the relatively backward financial development in developing countries, the formation mode of their financial centers is generally more inclined to the "government-led" development mode. There are generally two modes for the development of international financial centers: one is the "big country mode", that is, relying on sufficient domestic demand to promote the all-round development of a large and comprehensive financial system, such as new york, London and Tokyo. The formation of its financial center depends on a strong and prosperous economic foundation, including a large-scale economic hinterland, a rapidly growing trade volume and domestic demand.

Another development model is the "small country model", that is, focusing on developing financial services with professional advantages, so as to establish financial positions beyond their own economic strength, such as Zurich and Singapore.

Big country model: a case study of London International Financial Center. London became a trade center at the beginning of the18th century, and 80% of domestic imports and 70% of exports passed through London. Later, 40% of international settlement was in pounds, and British overseas investment accounted for half of the total investment in the West. With Britain's strong economic strength, London became the leading international financial center at that time. In the 20th century, with the rise of American economy between the two wars, the proportion of the United States in world industrial production rose from 38% in 19 13 to 48%. New york's position in the international financial market is at its peak, and it has assumed the role of financing US dollars from the international market. With the prosperity of the international money market and capital market, it has become a pivotal international financial center.

Singapore adopts the "small country model"

In terms of small country model, take Singapore as an example. Its economy is small, but its judicial system is perfect, its economy is highly marketized and internationalized, and it is at the forefront of the Asia-Pacific region in terms of private banking, account management and financial product innovation. Its daily average trading volume in the foreign exchange market and derivative financial instruments can account for 7% of the world.

Judging from the actual situation in China, Shanghai has obviously adopted the "big country model" of "state intervention and government leading".

The tsunami crisis, the sudden change of the world pattern, and the "financial centers" around the world have accelerated to incite the economy to strive for the upper reaches.

On April 29th, Liu Tienan, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, authoritatively interpreted the "Detailed Rules" for Shanghai to build an international financial center ... The global financial tsunami raged, but the provinces and cities in mainland China made rapid progress in building financial centers. On the one hand, with the deepening of the financial crisis, the revolutionary trend of thought about rebuilding the new world financial order and changing the world financial structure is becoming the hottest topic; On the other hand, the financial industry, as the fulcrum to incite economic development, is in line with the new round of regional economic development in the Mainland. The financial "crisis" has turned into an "opportunity" for development, and the overall layout of the mainland's financial map has taken shape under the impetus of this wave of financial center construction boom.

In recent years, in the process of economic transformation in the Mainland and accelerating the integration with the world economy, the upsurge of mainland economic center cities competing to build financial centers has become higher and higher, especially since the 14th National Congress of1992 * * formally established the construction of Shanghai International Financial Center as a national strategy, which immediately kicked off the prelude to the construction of financial centers. After China joined WTO, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Tianjin, Chongqing, Wuhan, Jinan and Guangzhou all put forward the idea of building a financial center. According to the incomplete statistics of the mainland media and the recent "shock wave" of financial center construction, up to now, as many as 90 cities in the mainland have proposed to establish international, domestic and regional financial centers.

The overall layout of the construction of financial centers in the mainland has also begun to appear: Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen rely on the Yangtze River Delta, Bohai Rim and Pearl River Delta respectively; Economic center cities such as Tianjin, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chongqing, Chengdu and An are also gradually strengthening the agglomeration of regional financial resources.

Good geographical location, national support and continuous efforts and development make it possible for Shanghai to become a global economic center.