(Economic Watch) Heads of global financial institutions talk about "investment economy": China is still an important choice

　　China News Service, Beijing, January 16 (Reporter Wang Enbo) Entering 2022, in the face of repeated epidemics and turbulent markets, global investors are looking for high-quality investment targets.

At the "Global Wealth Management Forum Shanghai Suhewan Summit" held in Beijing and Shanghai from the 15th to the 16th, the heads of many well-known financial institutions around the world believed that investing in China is still an important choice. Green transition opportunities deserve attention.

　　Under the repeated epidemics, the World Bank recently predicted that the global economy will grow by 4.1% in 2022, down 0.2 percentage points from the previous year.

However, China is still a promising market for all parties.

　　Zheng Yang, chairman of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, pointed out that China's middle-income group has reached 400 million people, and the number of middle-income groups will increase in the future under the guidance of the goal of common prosperity.

On the one hand, it will effectively solve the worldwide problem of the large gap between the rich and the poor, and on the other hand, it will effectively promote consumption and expand domestic demand, thereby providing continuous impetus for economic growth by virtue of China's super-large market advantages.

　　Stephen Klar, managing director and managing partner of Wellington, said that as one of the largest, fastest-growing and most dynamic markets in the world, the Chinese market provides global investors with abundant investment opportunities that cannot be ignored. An important part of the global investor opportunity pool and will lead to attractive investment opportunities in 2022 and beyond.

　　The steady growth of China's economy and the increase in residents' income have brought good news to the wealth management market.

Data show that by the end of 2021, there were 36,300 wealth management products from existing banks in China, and the number of investors reached 81.3 million.

　　Mike Freno, chairman and CEO of Barings, judges that China will continue to grow at a very rapid rate in terms of AUM and wealth creation, not only at the institutional level but also at the individual level.

The investment asset class of institutional clients in China has expanded from traditional asset management services such as stocks and bonds to more alternative asset classes. This trend is also evident in the fields of wealth management and personal investment, and is expected to be the future development direction.

　　Daniel Houston, chairman, president and CEO of Principal Financial Group, is optimistic about the opportunities brought by China's accelerated construction of the second and third pillars of pension insurance.

He said that he very much agrees with China's inclusion of long-term retirement wealth accumulation in its national strategy to address the challenges of an aging society. With the development of the third pillar policy, it is expected to guide a part of bank savings to be invested in various stable and qualified pension products, thus transforming into long-term assets.

　　Although the prospects for global economic recovery are unclear, it has become a consensus of all parties that green transformation and development will reshape the world economic pattern, development model and industrial structure, and form new growth points.

The resulting investment opportunities have attracted widespread attention from financial institutions.

　　Daniel Simkowitz, chief executive of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, said it was estimated that between $1 million and $150 trillion in investment would be needed to reach the goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

At present, many market players have regarded sustainability as the core of future investment. By 2025, the scale of sustainable assets under management is likely to exceed US$13 trillion, accounting for more than one-third of global assets under management.

　　Many Chinese financial institutions have regarded the green transformation of the economy as a key area.

Zhang Qingsong, President of Agricultural Bank of China, revealed that by the end of 2021, the balance of ABC’s green loans was nearly 2 trillion yuan (RMB, the same below), a year-on-year increase of over 30%; the green bond investment balance was 89.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 35%; 27 issues of bonds, raising funds of 44 billion yuan.

The bank will continue to expand the supply of green funds to ensure that the growth rate of green loans during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period will continue to be higher than the growth rate of loans across the bank.

　　"The growing enthusiasm for investment reflects the enormous potential of the environment, society and governance," said Jenny Johnson, president and CEO of Franklin Templeton. Regardless of threats to food supplies or damage to coastlines, environmental , society and governance have the potential to help mitigate or reverse the impacts of climate change, while reducing risk and improving long-term investment returns.

　　Chen Siqing, chairman of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, also proposed to "continuously improve the ability of finance to help green transformation".

Actively comply with the trend of green transformation of production and lifestyle, and take vigorous actions to improve the coverage, availability and satisfaction of financial services.

According to the needs of the transformation of the real economy, forward-looking adjustment of the investment and financing layout, guiding and leveraging various resources to flow to the low-carbon and circular economy field.

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