Depth report

　　

The year 2023 marks the 10th anniversary of China's proposal to jointly build the Belt and Road Initiative and build an even closer China-Asean community of shared future. On November 8, Kaitai Bank took the opening ceremony of its Beijing branch as an opportunity to "jointly build the Belt and Road" : The China-Asean Financial Cooperation Forum 2023 will be held under the theme of "Development Trend and Cooperation of China-Asean Cross-border Finance and Digital Economy", and more than 100 guests from China and Thailand will be invited to exchange views on green finance and fintech innovation in cross-border trade. From the level of policies, trends and practices, we will discuss how to promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative in Thailand and the ASEAN region through financial cooperation.

Ms. Suwanee Zasadasa, Assistant Governor of the Central Bank of Thailand, Ms. Gao Song, Director of the International Department of the State Financial Regulatory Administration, Mr. Zhou Jianqiang, Deputy Secretary General of the China Banking Association, Ms. Zhang Ying, Deputy Director of the Beijing Local Financial Supervision Administration, and Ms. Shi Linghua, Researcher of the Cross-border Office of the Beijing Branch of the People's Bank of China, attended and spoke at the forum. Professor Huang Yiping, a famous economist, delivered a keynote speech on the Direction and Strategy of Financial Opening. Liu Xiaochun, Vice President of Shanghai New Financial Research Institute, Ji Yong, General Manager of Platform Business Department of China Mobile International Limited, Xia Zhi, General manager of Product Department of UnionPay International Limited, and Cui Haifeng, Deputy general manager of Financial Systems Department of Huawei Technologies Co., LTD., held a roundtable discussion on "Cross-border Cooperation in the Digital Age" and shared their experiences. Wang Yupei, Deputy Director of the Supervision Department of Foreign Investment Institutions of the Beijing Supervision Bureau of the State Financial Supervision and Administration attended the forum.

Looking back over the past decade, the Belt and Road Initiative with the "Five links" as its core content has become an international public good with the largest scale, the most extensive participation and the most benefits in the world. As one of the "five links", "financial integration" is an important support for jointly building the Belt and Road. In her speech, Ms. Suwanee Zasadasa, Assistant Governor of the Central Bank of Thailand, praised the positive role of the Belt and Road Initiative in enhancing regional connectivity. China is Thailand's most important trading partner, and the Belt and Road Initiative will further promote trade, investment and cultural exchanges between Thailand and China and other ASEAN countries. The use of digital currencies, combined with trade agreements, helps to reduce costs and efficiencies, reduce trade barriers and drive innovation in international trade. The Bank of Thailand attaches great importance to innovative financial technology and green finance, launched the central bank digital currency project and carried out multilateral central bank digital currency bridge cooperation with the Digital currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China and other central banks, while launching the pilot test of personal digital currency, and actively explore its use in international trade, public welfare and daily transactions of the public.

In his speech, Gao Song, Director of the International Department of the State Financial Regulatory Administration, reviewed the rich achievements of practical cooperation in the financial field in promoting China-Asean regional connectivity, and put forward suggestions on promoting the steady development of China-Asean financial institutions and enhancing the financial security and diversification of financial services under the Belt and Road Initiative.

Zhou Gengqiang, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Banking Association, from the perspective of "family members" of foreign banks in China and "intermediaries" of banking exchanges between China and Thailand, praised the practice of foreign banks in China actively integrating into China's local development and resonating with major national regional development strategies such as the "Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area" under the background of two-way opening-up of the financial industry and the "Belt and Road Initiative". It also introduced the positive signals of the recently concluded Central Financial Work Conference on steadily improving cross-border investment and financing facilitation and steadily expanding institutional openness in the financial sector.

Zhang Ying, Deputy director of Beijing Local Financial Supervision Administration, introduced Beijing's contributions in improving the level of financial services, promoting financial reform and opening up, and maintaining financial security and stability. The deepening of China's financial reform and opening up and the increasing competitiveness of Beijing's financial sector have provided new market opportunities for investors from all over the world.

Shi Linghua, researcher of the Cross-border Office of the People's Bank of China Beijing Branch, introduced the support of the People's Bank of China Beijing Branch for the construction of the "two zones" in Beijing and the development of cross-border RMB business in Beijing. We shared innovative measures around key regions such as ASEAN under the "Belt and Road" initiative, focusing on characteristic areas such as foreign contracted engineering enterprises, and opening up the last mile of policies to promote the expansion of cross-border RMB use.

Professor Huang Yiping, director of the Digital Finance Research Center of Peking University, shared the forward-looking views of digital currency bridge and green finance with the guests in the special report, revealing the trend of cross-border cooperation and financial innovation in the digital era.

In the following roundtable, representatives from financial institutions and the business community discussed the topics of "Cross-border Trade and Investment in the Digital Age" and "Cross-border cooperation in Green Finance", sharing the trends of Chinese enterprises in ASEAN trade and investment from their respective industries. These include China Mobile's green concept integrated into its products, UnionPay International's technical advantages to improve the convenience and security of cross-border payments, and Huawei's best practices in using cloud computing and artificial intelligence technologies to promote the development of customers' cross-border business.

Chen Bowen, president of Kaitai Bank Group and chairman of Kaitai Bank (China) Co., LTD., introduced that as a leading digital bank in ASEAN plus three regions deeply exploring the Chinese market, Kaitai Bank Financial Group gives full play to its regional connectivity strengths, actively participates in the construction of the "Belt and Road" Initiative, and pragmaticly serves Chinese enterprises to "go global". In the new era, the meaning of "Belt and Road" has been expanded to "digital Belt and Road". Innovations such as ESG and digital currency combined with the Belt and Road Initiative have become an inevitable trend, which will redefine the global business landscape. As a model of sustainable development bank in Southeast Asia, Kaitai Bank continues to increase the proportion of green credit, and constantly increase loans in advanced manufacturing, clean energy and other fields. As one of the first foreign banks to access the digital renminbi, Kaitai Bank (China) took the lead in implementing the public digital renminbi business, and worked with partners to promote regional financial cooperation and trade and investment, while leading the financial industry to a more environmentally friendly and sustainable future.

The industry insights and practical experience of the guests at this forum provided valuable reference for how fintech and green finance cooperation can boost regional prosperity in the new decade of jointly building the Belt and Road. Kaitai Bank will also make unremitting efforts to serve cross-border cooperation with financial innovation, and achieve sustainable growth together with customers under the Belt and Road Initiative.