The Digital Finance Forum 2023 was held on July 6 at the Beijing Banking & Insurance Business Park in Shijingshan District, Beijing, with the aim of discussing the trend of global digital finance, evaluating and determining the optimal path for high-quality digital finance development, and fostering a consensus on the future of digital finance.
Themed as “Pioneering a Better Future with Digital Intelligence“, this Digital Finance Forum is organized by the Shijingshan District People’s Government of Beijing Municipality and Asia Digital Group. Notable guests in attendance include Huang Qifan, a researcher fellow and former mayor of Chongqing, Xu Xinchao, deputy secretary-general of the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, Zhao Weijiu, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Local Financial Regulation and Supervision, Li Xianxia, executive vice mayor of Shijingshan District and member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Shijingshan District Committee of Beijing Municipality, Li Wenhua, vice mayor of Shijingshan District, and Zhu Dongfang, president of Asia Digital Group. Government representatives, experts, scholars, and business leaders from more than 10 countries and regions, including Spain, the United States, Germany, New Zealand, Austria, Sri Lanka, and Slovenia were invited to exchange on how to drive financial innovation and digital strategic upgrades under the new dual-cycle pattern, and help the construction of a new digital financial ecosystem, striving to open a new era of high-quality development of fintech and continue to enhance the international influence of Beijing’s digital economy.
Fostering the top-level structure for digital finance under the guidance of national policies
Xu Xinchao, deputy secretary-general of the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, advocated Beijing as a cutting-edge scientific and technological innovation center, as well as a national financial management center. The city is actively striving to establish itself as a global benchmark in the digital economy, leveraging its exceptional strengths in economy, finance, and digital innovation. Beijing aims to develop a modern digital financial system that aligns with the capital’s four central functions in politics, culture, international exchanges, and scientific and technical innovation. Specifically, the city will focus on enhancing digital financial technology innovation, driving the digitalization of financial services, fostering the growth of digital business in financial institutions, nurturing digital financial industry players, promoting the digital transformation and upgrading of financial institutions, and facilitating pilot reforms in the fintech supervision sandbox and fintech innovation in the capital market. Beijing is ready to join hands with all partners to promote the high-quality development of digital finance.
Zhao Weiju, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Local Financial Regulation and Supervision, pointed out in his speech that Beijing, as the national financial management center, attaches great importance to the development of digital finance, adheres to the fundamental purpose of serving the real economy, and focuses on stimulating the multiplication effect formed by the factors of “finance + science and technology + data”. The financial industry and information service industry have emerged as Beijing’s pillar industries. The digital economy and the financial industry constitute over 40% and more than 20% respectively, showcasing a clear trend towards digital transformation in the financial sector.
Li Xianxia, executive vice mayor of Shijingshan District and member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Shijingshan District Committee of Beijing Municipality, noted in his speech that finance plays an important role in promoting the Chinese path to modernization, and has also made outstanding contributions to the high-quality development of Beijing. Shijingshan strives to build “1+3+1” top tech sectors headed by the modern financial industry. The revenue of the modern financial industry exceeds 100 billion. It has successfully established several national-level financial infrastructures that have showcased their effectiveness and influence. The continuous progress of the E-CNY pilot further signifies its importance.
Showcasing new achievements and cooperation fruits in digital economy
The launch of products is a highlight of this forum. The National FinTech Evaluation Center debuted the Financial Frontier Technology and Supervision Technology Laboratory, which is the first to apply data asset graph technology to financial data asset pricing, jointly built with the Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Core Technology (initiated by Tsinghua University). Through graph technology, automated inventory, calculation, and analysis of the value correlation between data assets and various scenarios are achieved, and a fair, reasonable, and efficient data asset pricing algorithm platform is established. It aims to support the effective use of public data, industry level data asset graph initiatives, and data pricing combined with model governance by the government to enable the real economy and other fields.
Beijing Jinsec Information Technology Co., Ltd. released a maturity evaluation model for the application innovation capability of financial industry. The development of the evaluation model acts as a starting point for the integrity of the application innovation of the financial industry, and evaluation criteria for the development stage, maturity level, and key gaps of application innovation of various financial institutions. As a tool for financial institutions to carry out self-assessment of application innovation capabilities, it enables financial institutions to find out their own bottom line, helps to improve their application innovation construction capabilities, and then better plans prospects and layouts for the future.
Alibaba Cloud rolled out the financial industry version of Tongyi Qianwen, its own ChatGPT-style product. Tongyi Qianwen is a super-large-scale language model of Alibaba Cloud, featuring multi-round dialogue, copywriting, logical reasoning, multi-modal understanding, and multi-language support. Specifically, it can help financial institutions provide intelligent customer service, personal assistants, investment research analysis and data organization, which can greatly improve work efficiency.
A grand signing ceremony for the projects in Shijingshan District was held at the forum.
Blending Eastern and Western thoughts to seek for the future of digital finance
Boosting the development of the digital economy has become a global trend, and digital finance is an important support for building a digital economy system, which has captured attention across various countries. Representatives from more than 10 countries and regions engaged in in-depth exchanges around digital finance at the forum. This forum set up the guest city of honor for the first time. Natalia Chueca, mayor of Zaragoza, Spain, delivered a speech as the representative of the guest city of honor, hoping that the connection between Beijing and Zaragoza would continue to strengthen and jointly promote the development of global digital economy and digital finance. Florian Tursky, state secretary of Austrian Ministry of Finance, and Gabrielle Loga, manager of International Relations at Palmerston North City Council, New Zealand, delivered speeches via video. The guests introduced in detail the development and local advantages of their countries and regions in the field of digital economy and digital finance, and expressed their willingness to strengthen cooperation with China, Beijing and Shijingshan.
In the keynote speech session, Huang Qifan, a researcher fellow and former mayor of Chongqing, gave a speech on the status quo of digital economy and digital finance. Zhu Jiaming, an economist and chairman of the Academic and Technical Committee of Digital Finance Research Institute of Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, addressed on the theme of “From Digital Finance to Smart Finance—AI Accelerates the Transformation of FinTech Infrastructure”, expounding the changes of AI to the economic model, the potential of digital finance, and its trends.
Liu Dongmin, director of the International Finance Office of the Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, delivered a keynote speech on “Internet 3.0, Digital Finance and China’s Development Strategy”. In the era of Internet 3.0, which puts a strong emphasis on data and prioritizes intelligent applications, personalized services, and global connections, a transformative experience awaits individuals, while also accelerating the advancement of digital finance. During a keynote address on the topic of “Innovation and Practice of Ping An’s Digital Training for Financial Talents in the AI Era”, Huang Hongying, chief digital operations executive officer of Ping An Group, highlighted the significance of financial talent development. Additionally, Lou Heng, chief architect of the intelligent new financial industry and general manager of the insurance industry at Alibaba Cloud, presented on the theme of “Cloud Era of Digital Finance Construction”, showcasing the application of Alibaba Cloud in the realm of digital finance, and elucidating on the profound impact that cloud technology will have on the financial landscape moving forward.
During the High-Level Dialogue, representatives from various countries exchanged views on “Pioneering a Better Future with Digital Intelligence”. Moderated by Zhang Li, executive vice president of Asia Digital Group, the session involved Laurent Arribe, representative of the Bay Area Council in China, Feng Xingliang, chief representative of the representative offices of NRW. Global Business in Beijing and Guangzhou, Chen Jiaxian, chief representative of North China and Northeast China of Hong Kong Trade Development Council, Jan Sitar, Economic Counsellor at the Embassy of Republic of Slovenia to China, Mahesh Perera, CEO of the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA), Sri Lanka, Zhang Ning, director of the CUFE China FinTech Research Center, and Xue Chuyu, vice president of New Actuation Digital Finance Research Institute of DCITS. They shared and discussed valuable insights on various aspects of the digital economy, digital finance, regional development, trade, technology, and research institutions. Consensus was sought through speculative discussions, integrating both Eastern and Western ideas to explore the trends in digital finance across different countries and regions.
Displaying diversified value of the forum with science and technology
Science and technology have revolutionized numerous industries and scenarios. One such innovation is the introduction of the virtual digital human, “Jingrui”, who seamlessly connects with overseas guests, fostering a global interaction.
Business inspection activities will also be organized during the forum. The leaders of Shijingshan District accompanies guests from all walks of life around the world and representatives of Chinese and foreign enterprises to conduct inspections of the development environment of Shijingshan District to deepen mutual understanding and facilitate cooperation.
The Digital Finance Forum 2023 unites Eastern and Western ideas, promoting high-quality development in digital finance through discussions on digital intelligence and the exchange of industry trends.
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