(C) STATE COUNCIL APPROVES SHANGHAI FINANCIAL REFORM PLAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SHANGHAI 000191 SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/CM, DAS DAVIES TREASURY FOR OASIA/INA -- DOHNER/HAARSAGER/WINSHIP TREASURY FOR IMFP -- SOBEL/CUSHMAN USDOC FOR ITA DAS KASOFF, MELCHER, MAC/OCEA NSC FOR LOI, SHRIER STATE PASS CEA FOR BLOCK STATE PASS USTR FOR STRATFORD/WINTER/MCCARTIN/KATZ/MAIN E.O. 12958: DECL: 4/27/2034 TAGS: CH ECON EFIN EINV PGOV SUBJECT: (C) STATE COUNCIL APPROVES SHANGHAI FINANCIAL REFORM PLAN REF: A. REF A: SHANGHAI 187 ¶B. REF B: HONG KONG 708 CLASSIFIED BY: Christopher Beede, Pol/Econ Section Chief, U.S. Consulate, Shanghai, U.S. Department of State. REASON: 1.4 (d),(e) ¶1. (C) Summary. A leading Shanghai government finance official recently revealed that the State Council has approved a critical document for Shanghai, laying out how the city will become an international financial and shipping center. Reforms could include opening a financial futures market, allowing foreign firms to issue renminbi bonds, and listing exchange-traded funds in Shanghai; Shanghai has already been approved to use renminbi for settlement of trade contracts. China does not have a domestic financial crisis, emphasized the official, and in fact is attracting talent from distressed financial centers abroad. End summary. ¶2. (U) This is the second of two cables on ConGenOffs' recent meetings with Fang Xinghai, Director-General of the Shanghai Municipal Government Financial Services Office. This cable covers a meeting on April 2, when ConGenOffs arranged a meeting for Embassy Economic Minister-Counselor with Fang; ref A covers Fang's April 19 breakfast meeting with President of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank Richard W. Fisher. ============================ State Council Approves Plan for Shanghai Financial Innovation ============================ ¶3. (C) Fang said that the State Council recently approved a critical document for Shanghai, laying out how the city will become an international financial and shipping center. A key part of the plan is to establish a new coordinating group in the Central Government to streamline the process of approving financial product innovations, said Fang. (Note: Our academic contacts say that a draft of the State Council document has been distributed for comment; Fang's office later confirmed that the document is not yet publicly available. Fang said on April 19 that the document had been approved by the State Council "two weeks ago." See ref A. End note.) ============================ Some Financial Reforms Coming This Year . . . ============================ ¶4. (C) Several financial reforms are under consideration for this year, said Fang. These include: - Renminbi for trade settlement. (Note: According to Chinese media accounts, Shanghai was one of five cities selected at an April 8 State Council meeting to begin this pilot. See refs A and B. End note.) Fang said that Hong Kong import-export firms are eager to price trade contracts in renminbi and to accept renminbi for payment, since this removes their currency risk. However, Fang noted Chinese Government concerns about how value-added-tax rebates will be handled under this system, and whether holes will be created in the capital account, which remains tightly regulated. Shanghai was chosen for this trial because businesspeople adhere to the law, said Fang, implying that he does not think these problems will get out of hand. - Financial futures market: This could be started in the second half of 2009, said Fang, "providing that the stock market does not fall another 50 percent." Mock trading has been continuing for two years without problems, so the futures market could start "tomorrow," if approved, said Fang. Chinese leaders had decided to start the futures market after the Growth Enterprise Market opened in Shenzhen, which has already happened. One product on the exchange would be stock index futures--a China 300 index based on top stocks listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen, said Fang. - Allowing foreign firms to issue bonds. There is broad leadership consensus on this concept, said Fang. He cited IBM SHANGHAI 00000191 002 OF 003 as a good example of a foreign company that could take the lead. - Exchange-traded funds on the Shanghai stock market. The New York Stock Exchange has been talking with the China Securities Regulatory Commission for a long time about listing on the Shanghai market, and the leadership has now agreed in principle to the concept. ============================ . . . Others Will Take Longer ============================ ¶5. (C) The Chinese leadership is also considering other reforms, although there is no timeline for these, said Fang. They include: - Credit default swaps. Chinese leaders are not opposed to introducing credit default swaps, said Fang, but there needs to be either a centralized clearance authority or direct China Bank Regulatory Commission (CBRC) monitoring of banks to keep the banks from taking on undue risk. - Mortgage-backed securities (MBS's). Fang doubted that there would be quick progress on this, because an MBS pilot run by China Construction Bank (CCB) showed banks there was little profit in MBS products. In the pilot, CCB created MBS's from its own mortgage holdings, which it guaranteed and sold to investors. This drew on CCB's resources to create the product, but did not increase CCB's returns. Fang noted that CBRC Chairman Liu Mingkang has said that an MBS market requires a pool of well-performing loans and also that the risk of the MBS products should be linked with the originator. Given the inability to use securitization to reduce risk, CCB preferred simply holding the mortgages to maturity. - Private equity (PE). Fang does not think there will be an explosion of new renminbi PE in China. The problem, said Fang, is that there are not enough qualified investors, such as university endowments and diversified pensions. Early on PE was easy, said Fang, but now it is more difficult, and profits are lower. That said, in Fang's opinion PE is best regulated at the local level. ============================ No Financial Crisis in China ============================ ¶6. (C) Fang twice emphasized during his meeting with EconMinCouns that China's financial system is sound, with no signs of crisis. He pointed to several signs supporting this: 1) The stock market is rebounding, showing that people feel they saw the bottom; Hong Kong, by contrast, has only a quarter of the trading volume of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Stock brokers' profits are above expectations, with some already achieving half of their yearly profit goals. 2) Bank lending is strong. 3) Household consumption is holding steady. Since Chinese households are not highly leveraged, retail spending has continued apace. ¶7. (C) However, Fang worried aloud that there were potential problems building up in the system. For the stock market, for instance, he said the run up may be related to the first quarter's surge in bank lending: "With so much money around, the question is where you can put it." Fang said he himself would not put his money in the market now, as many of the original investors had already taken their profits and left the market. On bank lending, Fang said that nonperforming loans were certain to increase, even if they had not yet shown up. In addition, some of the corporate borrowing may be precautionary, as companies seek to build up cash reserves in anticipation of a credit crackdown later this year. ¶8. (C) Fang also admitted that this financial stability comes at a price. "Our system precludes any massive innovation, since it all has to be approved by the State Council," said Fang. This is good, he argued, in that it prevents risks; but it is SHANGHAI 00000191 003 OF 003 bad in that businesses have higher costs and can't hedge risks. ============================ Overseas Financial Talent Recruiting Mission Pays Off ============================ ¶9. (C) Fang said that the response to the Shanghai Government-sponsored mission to recruit financial professionals from overseas was very good, "in a way overwhelming." A colleague of Fang's led some twenty-five Shanghai-based institutions on the mission. (Note: According to Chinese media reports, the recruiting mission traveled in early December to Chicago, London, and New York. End note.) In a meeting examining the results of the mission two days earlier (i.e., March 31),said Fang, it was clear that success varied according to the sophistication of the chief executive officer of each company: the old-fashioned and inward looking types have not been keen to hire from abroad. ¶10. (C) So far around thirty to forty people have accepted offers to work for financial services firms in Shanghai, and another thirty have been extended offers but have not yet accepted, said Fang. A few more are under discussion, he added. These individuals fall under the Chinese companies' salary and bonus system, said Fang, although he noted that the compensation gap between Shanghai and overseas is not "huge." Some of the recruits were offered hiring bonuses, said Fang. Many are overseas Chinese, said Fang, and a few of these have foreign citizenship. Two are "pure" foreigners, said Fang, of whom one can speak Chinese well and one does not. Fang is pushing to hire more overseas financial professionals. He noted that some overseas financial professionals believe that signing on with a Shanghai firm for several years will be an excellent step in advancing their own long-term personal career goals. ============================ NDRC Gaining Clout in the State Council ============================ ¶11. (C) Fang said that the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) continues to gain clout in the State Council vis-a-vis other ministries. The State Council itself is a skeleton, without much staff, said Fang. As a result, all policies are made in the ministries; when issues cross ministerial lines, he said, they are supposed to be forwarded to the State Council. However, if Premier Wen Jiabao cannot decide a policy, given the small State Council staff, he hands it over to the NDRC. ============================ Comment ============================ ¶12. (C) Fang--a Stanford-educated economist with an air of ambition about him--has been forward-leaning in describing potential financial reforms for Shanghai to EconOff in the past, but with local academics confirming that a plan is in circulation, we judge this State Council decision will have greater impact on Shanghai. Fang said that the plan lists specific financial products that will be placed in the pipeline for approval by the new central coordinating body. Fang also made a clear case for Shanghai's continued growth, although with some associated risk. More worrying, perhaps, is that he was not envisioning Chinese domestic consumption replacing the export market even in the medium term: he commented that if U.S. growth stagnates for three to five years, China's economy would suffer serious problems. CAMP