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The first decade of the twenty-first century has seen the spectacular rise of China as a world economic power. It is now the second largest economy in the world. Its banking system is one of the largest in the world and important reforms are being made. Where China will go from here, particularly in the wake of the financial tsunami, will have significant impact on the world’s future economic landscape. It is high time for it to re-think its strategy and to re-constitute its financial institutions and practices to avoid the pitfalls that have caused the financial crisis. This is also the best of times for economists and finance professionals, scholars and policy-makers, for the new economic order calls for new thinking now that China has burst upon the world scene.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has announced earlier the establishment of the Institute of Global Economics and Finance (the Institute) to contribute conceptual and policy ideas to the opening up of China’s financial system. Comprising renowned economic scholars and specialists, the Institute has invited Prof. Joseph Yam, former Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority of the HKSAR, and Honorary Professor at the Faculty of Business Administration, CUHK as its Distinguished Research Fellow. An expert in monetary and financial market, Professor Yam will take part in research to contribute his expertise and knowledge, and executive training programmes to share his experience and insights with practitioners. He will also conduct classes for CUHK students and deliver lectures to facilitate the spread of knowledge. Other members of the Institute include Prof. Lawrence J. Lau, Vice-Chancellor and Ralph and Claire Landau Professor of Economics; Prof. Sir James Mirrlees and Prof. Robert A. Mundell, both Distinguished Professors-at-Large and Nobel Laureates in Economic Sciences; Prof. Sung Yun-wing, Chairman, Department of Economics; and Prof. Leslie Young, Professor of Finance.

Prof. Liu Pak-wai, Professor of Economics and former CUHK Pro-Vice-Chancellor, who serves as director of the Institute, is committed to fostering the mainland’s economic development, ‘Drawing on the educational and research strengths and resources of the Department of Economics and the Faculty of Business Administration, we at the Institute hope to make contributions to the modernization of China’s monetary and financial systems by contributing new ways of thinking, making policy recommendations and pointing out new paths for modernization.

Through research, the Institute will contribute conceptual and policy ideas to the opening up of China’s post-financial-crisis financial system. The Institute will also offer executive education programmes to enhance the knowledge and expertise of participants in new developments and ideas in global finance and banking that are essential to China’s opening up. Renowned scholars and policy-makers will be invited to give lectures.

Professor Liu said, ‘The programmes target high-level professionals and executives from the banking, insurance, brokerage sectors as well as regulators and government agencies on the mainland, in Hong Kong and overseas. At a time when rapid and far-reaching changes are imminent, we need professionals and policy-makers who can manage the changes.’ The programmes will cover a wide range of topics highly relevant to new developments in global economics and finance, as well as important recurrent themes, such as the emergence of the Renminbi as an international currency, international best practices in corporate governance, etc. Each session of the programmes will last one to two weeks.

CUHK has a long history of taking initiatives to build bridges between China and the West. Founded in 1963 with the mission ‘to combine tradition with modernity; to bring together China and the West’, the University is consistently ranked among Asia’s best institutions by international surveys of research output in economics and finance, which was identified as one of its five focused areas of research. The University is experienced and well-positioned to play an active role in contributing to a new phase of development in the Chinese financial system.