The 31st Forum on Bank Frontier Issues was held in Chengdu, Sichuan on June 7, 2017. Prof. Richard Cooper, the former United States Deputy Secretary of State, lifetime professor of Harvard University, and Prof. Zhang Yansheng, principal researcher of China International Economic Exchange Center were invited to deliver keynote speeches on "Prospect of American and Chinese Economy in Donald Trump times" and "Chinese Economic Situation under "The Belt and Road", respectively and made exchanges with audience. This session was presided over by Pan Guangwei, party secretary of China Banking Association (CBA) and full-time deputy president.

The topic of this lecture session was "Prospect of Chinese Economic Development under New Normal ", aiming at discussing the development tendency of Chinese economy under New Normal, exploring the effective routes of national strategy such as supporting "The Belt and Road" by Chinese banking industry and supply-side structural reform, and helping the financial institutions of banking industry effectively control risks, actively serving the real economy, national strategy and clients to realize their own steady operation and development. More than 400 senior managers and responsible people from over 170 financial institutions of banking industry and local enterprises attended this lecture session.

In his speech, Prof. Zhang Yansheng made an in-depth analysis of the international environment, development vision, action and measures, risks and challenges of "The Belt and Road", and gave his opinions on hot issues such the new normal of China’s economy and supply-side structural reform. Prof. Zhang pointed out that we should closely combine the eastern region under transition to innovation-driven mode and the central region under investment-driven mode with the western region at the forefront of "The Belt and Road" development so as to go well along "The Belt and Road" and promote the opening to the outside world in the next thirty years.

Prof. Zhang said that supporting the "The Belt and Road" strategy was a guaranteed path for the development and transformation of China's banking industry under New Normal. Since China's entry into WTO, China's banking industry has carried out an all-round reform guided by the direction of improving the international competitiveness. Many contradictions and problems were also presented in the high-speed development. So it is necessary to re-introduce external competition pressure to promote the banking and the financial industry enter a new phase and reach a better status. The political, institutional, economic, market and management risks in the countries along the "The Belt and Road" just give China's banking industry the best opportunity to increase risk-resisting ability and to realize development and transformation.

Only when cooperating with the experienced banks along The Belt and Road can we jointly develop the markets of relevant countries and Chinese banking industry enter a wider global market, participate in fierce international competition, gradually set up competitive advantages and increase China's international influence. Sichuan Tianfu Bank featuring services for small and medium-sized enterprises has strictly followed the national policy requirements, and understood the economic development situation. Since its establishment in 2001, by adhering to its corporate value of "Heart with kindness nurtures like Water" and the operational value of "Being close to the medium and lower social layers", it has persisted in its market position of "Serving small and medium-sized enterprises" as well as its operation strategy of "Dislocation competition, differential services", advanced on the road of "Providing professional and characteristic financial services to small and medium-sized enterprises" and strived to build a " boutique, characteristic and safety bank." 

Giving analysis of the current tendency of global economy growth, Prof. Richard Cooper introduced the American economy after financial crisis, especially since Donald Triumph took office. He summarized his speech by expressing his expectation to the development of Chinese economy. He indicated that, presently, developed countries, such as European countries, Japan and United States, are not as alive as previous years, but they have kept a steady economy, the main economies represented by BRIC countries have shown economic recovery in the past two years, and the overall global economy is becoming active.

Prof. Cooper held that the impact of 2008 financial crisis on American and global economies has not been completely eliminated, which is mainly manifested in four aspects: first, Interest rates continue to lower, which has an impact on conventional business mode and some other industries like banking, financial sector, insurance companies and pension funds; second, the national debts (public debts) account for sharply increasing proportions in GDP; third, governments have strengthened regulation on financial institutions, especially banks; fourth, business circle is becoming more prudent in investments.

Besides, Prof. Cooper summarized the reasons for China's rapid economic growth in recent decades from seven aspects containing resource distribution, opening to the outside world, overseas Chinese, demographic benefit, industry transfer, saving and investment rates, and education development. He also looked into China's future economic growth in terms of population structure, urbanization, export and investment.

He especially pointed out that, in recent years, China's development has attracted world attention as the cases of the United States in the 1930s and Japan in the 1980. More attention also means the world is more concerned about China's development and the problems that exist. We cannot simply interpret the criticism from other countries as objection to China, instead, it is the price of success. 

The audiences interacted with Prof. Cooper and Prof. Zhang Yansheng on the relevant topics: the possibility of renminbi becoming an international settlement currency in "The Belt and Road" strategy; how to prevent systematic financial risks and avoid financial crisis in China’s economic operation, and development of conventional banks in the time of artificial intelligence, etc. And they benefited a lot.

Subsequently, Sichuan Tianfu Bank, Tianfu Management (Group) Limited Company, Tianfu Financial Leasing Co., Ltd., and Walt International Financial Training Center will continue to carry out in-depth cooperation with Harvard University and other international well-known education institutions and financial institutions, sharing excellent teachers and intellectual achievement. We would like to make joint efforts with banks and financial institutions, deeply understanding, adapting ourselves to, and grasping the "New Normal". We would actively assist in promoting supply-side structural reform to set up a diversified, sustainable and commercialized financial security and financial service system for the "The Belt and Road" strategy, to introduce more nurturing financial water and to cultivate the evergreen tree of real economy.