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HK Important for Market-Based Chinese Economy: Economist
Hong Kong is meeting with an extraordinary opportunity to be an even greater commercial and market center in the years ahead because of the potential for economic growth in a market-based Chinese economy, said a U.S. economist.
With China undergoing its great transformation, China must develop market skills more broadly, and Hong Kong can play a particularly pivotal role in this regard, said Robert E. Rubin, chairman of the Executive Committee and member of the Office of the Chairman of Citigroup.
Delivering a speech at a luncheon in Hong Kong, Rubin said a market based financial system poses a great challenge for China, as it requires an effective system of regulation and supervision, and of well-established accounting standards and rules and processes of law.
China has made achievement in the reform of state-owned commercial banks, but it is still focused on substantially increasing the alternatives to the banking system, especially the development of robust bond and stock markets, he said.
He pointed out that the financial institutions themselves need strong credit cultures, strong investment cultures and large numbers of professionals with the requisite experience and skills.
Hong Kong is world class locus of the entrepreneurial and financial and market skills that China so greatly needs, and has long served this function within broader Chinese economy, he noted.
He believes that giving foreign financial institutions greatly increased access to China's financial services sector would help China meet this need.
While China's financial institutions continue to develop, the WTO agreement does move in this direction, he added.
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