Financial- sector cooperation crucial in expanding relationship with UK, officials say

Cooperation between China and the UK in the financial sector is crucial for their expanding relationship, and both nations are seeking closer links between their financial infrastructures, officials from the two countries said in London on Tuesday.

At a conference on ChinaUK financial cooperation, Guo Kai, deputy general director of the International Department of the People’s Bank of China ( PBC), the country’s central bank, said closer links between the two nations’ financial infrastructures will improve services for financial institutions in both countries and lay a solid foundation for expanding bilateral financial cooperation.

Guo said the UK financial sector is “open... sophisticated and visionary” and it is “no coincidence that the Bank of England was the first major Western bank to sign a [ currency] swap agreement with the PBC.”

Delegates at the conference also welcomed the opening of the representative office of the Shanghai Clearing House ( SCH) in London.

Katharine Braddick, director general of financial services at the UK Treasury, noted that the UK attaches great importance to strengthening financial cooperation with China, in which boosting the presence of Chinese financial institutions in the UK plays a key role.

The SCH and the City of London Corp co- hosted the conference with the theme of “The Function of Financial Infrastructures in UK- China Financial Cooperation” at the Banking Hall in the City of London.

SCH Chairman Xu Zhen said that connectivity is the trend for the development of the global economy and finance. It is the responsibility of all financial infrastructures to provide global financial market participants with an efficient and secure network of posttrade services.

The SCH will take advantage of London’s leading position in the global financial market to boost exchanges and connectivity among the financial infrastructures in China and the UK, said Xu.