HKUST EMBA Inaugurates its Open Classroom Lecture Series featuring Prof Ba Shusong on Renminbi Globalization and Renminbi-denominated Assets Allocation

Prof Ba Shusong, Chief China Economist of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) and Chief Economist of China Banking Association, presented a gripping lecture on Hong Kong’s role as a global financial center in facilitating renminbi-denominated assets allocation, in the wake of renminbi globalization. The lecture took place at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) on 16 November 2017.

The talk entitled “Pricing renminbi assets: the disruptive trends behind renminbi joining the ranks of international currencies” was organized by HKUST Business School’s Executive MBA for Chinese Executives (HKUST EMBA) Program, a world-class bilingual program specifically designed for Chinese speaking executives and entrepreneurs in Asia and the Greater China.

In his talk, Prof Ba argued that it was inevitable for renminbi-denominated assets to integrate into the global financial market, as there was a demand for Chinese investors allocating assets overseas to share the profits of global economic growth. According to Prof Ba, overseas allocation was also vital for China’s transformation of economic structure, and its solution to aging society. He expected a significant increase of renminbi-denominated assets in the global financial markets, thanks to the Belt and Road initiative. Hong Kong, as a global financial center connecting China and the rest of the world, played an important role as China was experimenting to make renminbi eventually a fully convertible international currency. The successes in the Shanghai/Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect and Bond Connect all demonstrated an optimistic outlook in the internationalization of renminbi.

Prof Xu Yan, Associate Dean of HKUST Business School, and Academic Director of HKUST EMBA for Chinese Executives Program said, “We are extremely grateful to Prof Ba for agreeing to give this lecture and share his vision on the globalization of renminbi and its implications to the role of Hong Kong. We have periodically invited visionary community leaders to share their insights with our EMBA students. This time we decided to open the classroom to our alumni, faculties, students from other programs and professional practitioners so that more people can be benefited from this feast for the mind, as the University endeavors to make positive social contribution through knowledge sharing.  This is just the first one of our open classroom lecture series and the response was overwhelming. We are going to organize more in the future.”

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