Hawksford CEO on panel at HSBC's seminar 'Exploring growth opportunities with China'

Key messages

• There is a huge opportunity for Jersey to work with HNW individuals living in China and Chinese businesses that are expanding globally.
• Jersey businesses must tell intermediaries in Shanghai and London why Jersey's financial services are ideally suited to meeting the needs of their clients based on its strong ties with Europe, its political stability and the well-regulated environment.
• Now is the time to embrace new technologies to make doing business with Jersey easy.

These were some of the key messages that came out of today's Exploring growth opportunities with China seminar.

Facts

Traditionally, energy and commodities sectors were China's main export, but technology services and healthcare sectors have seen rapid growth in the last five years.

China's Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) is about how China sees itself working with the rest of the world. They are making a massive investment into improving infrastructure and transportation networks to make China easily accessible and expect that trade with BRI related countries to more than double to USD2.5tn in the next decade.

Event details & information

Keynote speaker

Sue-Anne Tay, HSBC’s expert on China and RMB strategy, will open the seminar with a keynote and share her insights on key trends and opportunities emerging from China, including:

• China’s outbound investment flows,
• the Belt and Road Initiative,
• the internationalisation of the RMB,
• the rise of China’s middle class, and more.

Panel discussion

Jersey business leaders will share their real-world experiences of this dynamic market.

• Michel van Leeuwen, CEO, Hawksford,
• Sue Anne Tay, Director, China and RMB Internationalisation, Group Strategy, HSBC,
• Jonathan Rigby, Global Managing Partner, Mourant Ozannes, and
• Geoff Cook, CEO, Jersey Finance.

Why China?

As China’s transformation towards a more consumer-led economy continues, it is exerting an ever-greater influence on global trade and investment. And it is one of the most active sources of foreign direct investment, with Jersey being a major beneficiary.

China is also undertaking one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects the world has ever seen in its Belt and Road Initiative – a large-scale strategy designed to drive bigger
and faster trade and capital flows between the east and the west. This is creating a rapidly growing pool of middle income investors seeking portfolio diversity.

For commercial and personal wealth advisory professionals who understand and can access its capital flows, China is an unparalleled opportunity.

How China has become the opportunity

The following articles, published in partnership with Bloomberg, explore the content and themes debated at HSBC’s China Connections event in Shanghai last October.

1. China’s journey from factory to forerunner looks at how China has successfully managed to break free of its low-tech “factory of the world” status to become a global high-tech innovator. Continue reading...
2. China emerges as global innovation hub takes a view on how the country’s meteoric growth has presented business opportunities as the world’s gaze eastward intensifies. Continue reading...
3. The new trade routes reshaping the global economic landscape explores the far-reaching social and economic impact of China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative. Continue reading...
4. China’s new green imperative is a discussion on China’s realisation that with rapid economic growth comes the need to work towards more sustainable practices. Continue reading...