"We believe that China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) will bring more cooperative opportunities to both Chinese and overseas banks," said Eddie Wong of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Co. Ltd. (HSBC) on December 1 in Shanghai.

Wong, the business president of the China area, said at a HSBC Economic Seminar in Shangahi recently that cooperation among Chinese and overseas banks will bring about better services for investors and attract more international capital to China.

Realizing that there will be great competition among overseas banks after China enters the WTO, Wong is still quite confident about the bank's future development in China.

The HSBC is the only bank among the most popular 40 overseas- funded companies in China, according to a national survey conducted earlier this year.

"The HSBC will move its headquarters to Shanghai before long," said Wong, who looks upon Shanghai as his hometown.

Wong also spoke of China's great achievements and said he believes the country will hold a significant position in the world economic system in the coming era.

The seminar, jointly organized by the HSBC and Shanghai Fudan University, will hold four more seminars in the next two years, and many of the world's economists and other financial experts will be invited to attend and lecture on economic theory and practice.

The first lecture of this year's seminar was given today by Paul Schultz, an economist from Yale University in the United States on the topic Production and Allocation of China's Human Resources. (Xinhua)