Building Asia’s Wall Street

By WU XUE

SINCE the 1920s and 1930s， Shanghai has enjoyed a reputation for exotic night life. Yet there is more to the famous city than wining and dining after sunset. Today Shanghai is gradually reclaiming its status as a financial hub by taking measures to boost the night time economy.

If construction of the international financial center is like competing in a 1，000-meter long distance race， Shanghai is on the final 100-meter sprint.

When evening falls and daylight fades， its as if a flood gate of night time activities opens up in the Lujiazui Financial and Trade Zone. With futures traders busy with operating computers and flashing electronic screens showing real-time transaction information， the Shanghai Gold Ex- change （SGE） and Shanghai Futures Exchange （SFE） enter the exciting night trading session.

On an ordinary working day， the SGE trades 67 tons of gold， worth more than RMB 20 billion. Its traders for the night session pack up at 2 a.m. The SFE ends at 2：30 a.m.， and the traders have to settle accounts after the exchange closes.

Every day sees 200，000 financial practitioners step into the golden area of Lujiazui， home to hundreds of banks and financial institutions from both home and abroad， including HSBC， Citibank， Hang Seng， Sinolink Securities， and soaring skyscrapers， such as China Jinmao and Shanghai World Financial Center. Countless stories of financial fortunes won and lost have been told inside these buildings， on trading floors， roof-top coffee shops， and in plush offices.

How Does the BNY Mellon Write Its “China Story”？

Stepping out of the Lujiazui Station of Metro Line 2， the elevated walkway upstairs features the best “viewing platform” of the financial district. It is the overpass under which the actor of the 86th Oscar-winning sci-fi blockbuster Her walked on his way to work.

At 7 p.m. the Oriental Pearl Tower lights up. Xu Sheng， dressed in a dark gray suit， drives through the traffic circle under the walkway to the Hang Seng Bank Building， where the 41st floor is the Shanghai headquarters of the Bank of New York Mellon （BNY Mellon）.

On September 18， 2018， Xu officially took office as the president of the banks China branch. Previously， he had worked for 20-plus years at Deutsche Bank， JPMorgan Chase， and Standard Chartered Bank. Considering the time difference with the New York headquarters， the beginning of the night often means the beginning of a days work for Xu.

In 1994， the BNY Mellon opened its first representative office in Shanghai and then expanded its operations in Shanghai and Beijing respectively in 2000. Two decades have passed now， this “bank servicing banks” which has served customers in the Asia Pacific region for more than 100 years has reached the critical point of seeking business breakthroughs. The banks headquarters believes the key point for development lies in how to catch up with Chinas “modern development miracle” express， so as to promote， manage， and ensure the smooth flow of Chinese investors global assets. Much is expected of Xu.

At 9 p.m. Xu gently opens the office glass door. While turning on the computer， he said that in the past five years， with Chinas progress in financial technology， mobile payments， foreign investment， and the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative， the domestic capital market and financial industry have been gradually opening to overseas financial institutions. It is a good opportunity for the Bank of New York Mellon that China took measures to deepen its reform and opening-up in 2018， shifting their capital account to a surplus， and current account to a deficit， he said.

He thinks clearly about the positioning of the bank， as a custodian bank and trust bank： playing a good role of crossborder service bridge between Chinese and overseas customers.

Xu realizes that at present， Chinas domestic financial institutions have generated economies of scale， so it is difficult for foreign-invested institutions to surpass their domestic rivals in local business. Only by finding relevancy， doing their homework well， and differentiating their competitive advantages can a foreign bank win its share of the Chinese market.

Since most of the clients transactions are global instead of happening in a single place， it is crucial that there is awareness of their needs and movements from the top down. Taking the account manager as an example， it is necessary to have access to the world as one time zone， but also to commu- nicate with overseas colleagues， and to submit research reports in real time for analysis.

At 1 a.m. Lujiazui is still brightly lit. The executive committee of the BNY Mellon holds its regular bi-monthly video conference. The president of the Asia-Pacific region and the leaders of various business lines scattered in different locations assess their market strategy， laws， and regulations， as well as customer needs of the past two months so as to finalize their action plan.

It is normal for Xu to work late. But the real key for him to advance a project lies in his ability to let the top bank management recognize the importance of the Chinese market and accordingly increase investment in the country.

“Its not an easy task， especially when the U.S. headquarters does not have a thorough understanding of China. It requires a little patience，” says Xu. He uses two keywords to depict his efforts in this regards： awareness and recommendation. On the one hand， he has to keep his New York office updated about the situation in China and gives reasons why investors should invest in China， while on the other hand， he has to explain why it is recommended to do such things， what does all this have to do with China， what kind of investments are needed， and how much manpower is needed.

“Its not enough to rely on the strength of one person to be successful in business here in China，” says Xu， adding that the management team must all be on the same page in their thinking.

The publics impression of banking is that it is a very stable industry， but in the unpredictable new economic environment， the era of financial institutions relying on the glory of past achievements has long passed. As a saying often quoted by the BNY Mellon CEO Charles Scharf goes： Every day is Day One. No matter how brilliant the past， you must regard each day as the first day of the start-up.

Asian Wall Street

“If Lujiazui is an economic battlefield， buildings are our production workshops，” says He Jianmu， deputy director of the Lujiazui Financial Development Bureau Office.

At present， within the scope of the Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone， 250 high-grade office buildings with more than eight floors have been built， and the total number of financial institutions has increased to 1，605. The buildings take up 15 million square meters， more than 10 times that of the historic building clusters on the Bund.

In the buildings， the economic transcripts created by 200，000 whitecollar workers are remarkable. In 2018， Shanghais floor trading volume of gold and trading volume of several futures products ranked first in the world； the total amount of stock financing on the Shanghai securities market ranked second in the world in 2018. Since the opening of Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect， the two-way cumulative transaction volume has exceeded RMB 14 trillion and the total turnover of the Shanghai financial market has reached RMB 1645.8 trillion.

This year has been significant. With the achievements and experience of the past 18 years， Shanghai has accelerated its rush towards being an international financial center. In addition to those remarkable figures achieved over the years， the changing role of financial practitioners and the flowing direction of capital are also a barometer for Shanghais emergence as a global financial hub.

Li Yuan， chief financial officer of Fosun International Science and Technology Innovation Board， checks into the BFC Bund Financial Center using facial recognition technology. In the past four years， he has discovered some subtle changes： Since most of the projects are cross-border， the working hours of colleagues usually start at 3 p.m. However， in recent years， as Chinas overseas cross-border mergers and acquisitions have taken a rapid leap forward， China has gradually moved from being passive to being active， and even the overseas colleagues in France and Germany have gradually begun to work in accordance with the Chinese timeline.

Xu also shared an interesting phenomenon that took place this year： In June， FTSE Russell， a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange Group， officially included A-shares in its FTSE Watch List. At the same time， global index giant MSCI Inc. also added 12 Chinese stocks to its indexes， and as promised， it will increase the weighting of China Ashares in its indexes by raising the inclusion factor to 20 percent from 5 percent. The latest notice showed that it has increased from 5 percent to 10 percent. These two seemingly inconspicuous actions confirm that the Chinese capital market has always been attractive to overseas financiers.

However， Zhang Yugui， dean of the School of International Finance and Trade at Shanghai International Studies University， believes that whether Shanghai can eventually become the “Asian Wall Street” depends not only on the level of Chinas financial internationalization strategy， but also on whether China can break the constraints on Shanghais transforming into a global financial hub. For example， how to expand the richness of financial products， and establish global market pricing power and discourse power， and how to improve the degree of opening-up and internationalization， and attract highend talents.

On January 17， 2019， the Action Plan for the Establishment of the Shanghai International Financial Center （2018-2020） was released， which provides important guarantees， directions， and implementation paths for ensuring the completion of the international financial center in 2020. At present， Shanghai has attracted 38 internationally renowned hedge funds and asset management institutions to participate in the pilot program of qualified domestic limited partners （QDLP）. More than 10 of the top 20 asset management institutions in the world have settled in the city. The science and technology board and registration system are on the verge of landing.

On June 5， Lujiazui Financial City， paying heed to the proposal of Pierre Ducret， co-chair of the global network of Financial Centres for Sustainability（FC4S）， intends to introduce the concept of “sustainability” in the financial sector in Shanghai， and will launch a“5G Plan” in the field of sustainable development. This will be done by uniting the global industry， and pushing it forward from the aspects that include the recruitment of young talents， green ecological architecture， financial innovation cases， and global network meetings.

In early 1991， at the 42nd-floor revolving restaurant of the Jinjiang Tower Shanghai， the then commanding height of the city， Deng Xiaoping listened to a report focusing on Pudong development， and pointed out， “Finance is very important as it is the core of the modern economy. Handling financial affairs well is the key to economic success.”

Over the past 28 years， thousands of international financial talents at Lujiazui have been putting these words into practice.