The 2013 Lujiazui Forum, sponsored by the Shanghai municipal people’s government, People’s Bank of China, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), was held from June 27 to 29 in Shanghai.

Shang Fulin, chief of the CBRC, and Yang Xiong, mayor of Shanghai, served as the co-chairs of the forum.

Shang Fulin, chief of the CBRC, makes a speech on the 2013 Lujiazui Forum.

This year’s forum focused on “A New Vision for Financial Reform and Opening Up”. The annual event, initiated in 2008, has had different themes in the past five years, namely, “Deepening Financial Reform - China and the World”, “Finance and Economic Growth in the Globalized Age”, “Structural Adjustment and Financial Reform after the Crisis”, “Financial System and its Macro Management in a New Era”, and “Reforming Global Financial Governance for Real Economic Growth”.

The change of theme reflects the reality of the Chinese economy. On one hand, recent economic data was lower than market expectations. Economic growth slowed, bringing uncertainty for the future. On the other hand, financial reform has entered a critical period, with marketization of interest rates and exchange rates, renminbi internationalization and capital market liberalization.

A group of topics on the role of finance in supporting economic structure adjustment and upgrade, such as calling for more financial support for urbanization as well as small and medium-sized enterprises, were included in the forum’s agenda.