Panorama of conference

Co-Sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and co-hosted by the Bureau of International Cooperation, CASS, Institute of Industrial Economics, CASS, Cooperation Division, Shanghai Academy and Institutions for Development Sector of IDB, the Fourth LAC-China Policy and Knowledge Summit was held on Sep. 21-22, 2017 in Shanghai. The summit was themed “Shaping the Future of Financial Services in the Digital Economy”.

Hosted by Wen Xueguo

The opening ceremony of the summit was hosted by Wen Xueguo, Deputy Secretary General of the Presidium of Academic Divisions of CASS and Executive Vice President of Shanghai Academy. Huang Qunhui, Director General of the Institute of Industrial Economics, CASS, and Ana María Rodríguez-Ortiz, Manager, Institutions for Development, IDB, each delivered a speech.

Huang Qunhui delivers a speech

Ana María Rodríguez-Ortiz

Hundreds of well-known scholars at home and abroad and guests from think tanks were invited to attend the summit. Participants and scholars carried out in-depth communication and discussion on four topics, including: how the digital economy is transforming the financial sector; evolution of the digital finance ecosystem in China; challenges and new ideas to ignite a vibrant digital financial ecosystem in LAC; and the impact of emerging and future technologies. The issues discussed include: China's current digital economy; the digital economy changes markets, money and beyond; the rise of digital financial services in China, digital finance in LAC: trends and challenges; the rise of a fintech hub in LAC; digital financial inclusion; e-commerce platforms; social networks and the development of a dynamic digital payments landscape in China; from digital payments to a fully-fledged ecosystem of digital financial services in China; public sector actions to support the digital finance ecosystem in China; big data and artificial intelligence: what the future would look like for financial services; blockchain and future trends in the decentralization of the financial sector; and operators involved in creating the Internet financial ecology.

Scholars and experts participating in the summit were from academic institutions, think tank organizations and financial sectors such as Shanghai Academy, Institutions for Development, IDB, Renmin University of China Law School, Consult Hyperion, National Internet Finance Association of China, Connectivity, Markets and Finance, Inter-American Development Bank, Securities and Exchange Commission of Brazil (CVM), Institute of Finance and Banking, CASS, Development Bank of Jamaica Limited, Financial Markets Division, Central Bank of Chile, Center for Public Finance and Governance Studies, Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences, Strategy Department, Ant Financial, School of Economics, Shanghai University, China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Regulatory Affairs, Finance Superintendency of Colombia, Capital Markets, Bank of Investment and Exterior Commerce (BICE), Argentina, Brazilian Development Bank, China Center for Information Industry Development (CCID), Markets and Finance Division of the Inter-American Development Bank, National Academy of Economic Strategy, CASS, Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China Telecom Beijing Research Institute, Technology Risk, Banking Superintendence, Panama, and Financial and Monetary Operations, Central Reserve Bank of Peru.

Group photo

Great speeches were delivered respectively by Professor Wen Xueguo, Director General Huang Qunhui, Hu Bin, Deputy Director- General, Institute of Finance and Banking, CASS, Yang Dong, Vice Dean, Law School, Renmin University of China, Zhou Guolin, Head of Statistics Department, National Internet, Finance Association of China, Zhao Fuchang, Division Chief and Research Fellow of the Research Institute for Fiscal Science, Ministry of Finance, Sun Tao, Senior Director, Strategy Department, Ant Financial, Yin Yingkai, Associate Dean, School of Economics, Shanghai University, Jin Jian, Research Fellow, China Academy of information and communications technology (CAICT), Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Zhao Jianbo, Associate Research Fellow, Institute of Industrial Economics, CASS, Li Yiming, Deputy Director of Division, Institute of Intemet Research, China Center for Information Industry Development (CCID), Huang Hao, Associate Research Fellow, National Academy of Economic Strategy, CASS, Wang Jinqiao, Research Fellow, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qu Shenning, Associate Research Fellow, Institute of Industrial Economics, CASS, Zhu Xiaoshuo, Senior Consultant, China Telecom Beijing Research Institute, Ana María Rodríguez-Ortiz, Manager, Institutions for Development, Inter-AmericanDevelopment Bank, David G.W Birch, Co-Founder, Consult Hyperion, and Roberto Manrique, Senior Advisor, Institutions for Development, Intra-American Development Bank and other famous experts.

(By Meng Wa, Xie Nini, Photo by Zha Jianguo)