NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Stoner officially opened the Sydney Shanghai Finance Symposium 2012 at Parliament House, welcoming high profile senior financial leaders from Shanghai, including Dr Fang Xinghai, Director General of the Shanghai Municipal Government Financial Service Offices – responsible for the promotion and development of Shanghai as a global financial centre.

 

Mr Stoner said the forum would help the two cites work together more effectively to strengthen their positions as financial services hubs in the Asia Pacific.

 

“Shanghai and Sydney are recognised as financial centres in the Asia Pacific and both are very keen to further develop their financial services sectors,” Mr Stoner said.

 

“From Soft diplomacy through education to Future-proofing against financial uncertainty, today’s symposium will tackle some of the most topical issues facing both Sydney and Shanghai,” he said.

 

Mr Stoner said the NSW Government was determined to see Sydney play a leading role in financial services in the region – working closely with Shanghai to achieve that.

 

He said finance and insurance was the state’s largest industry – contributing $60 billion to the NSW economy in 2010-11.

 

“The NSW Government is committed to helping Sydney and NSW continue to grow by attracting and supporting new and expanded investment in the financial services sector,” Mr Stoner said.

 

The symposium is a result of a memorandum of understanding between the Financial Services Office of the Shanghai Municipal Government and the NSW Department of Trade and Investment, signed in July 2008. The MoU focuses on the establishment of a closer financial services partnership and recognises that Sydney and Shanghai have similar objectives in financial services.

 

Mr Stoner showcased Australian financial services success stories, including that of Australian-founded wealth management company Gao Fu, which in just a few years has established branch offices in a number of tier three cities in Shandong Province as well as implementing its first collaboration with a Chinese regional bank in Weifang, a city of nine million people, after basing itself out of Shanghai.

 

Mr Stoner said Gao Fu was a great example of how the two financial centres of Shanghai and Sydney were able to cooperate to establish new and leading world class financial services businesses.

 

“Gao Fu is to be congratulated for creating the world’s first bilingual wealth management IT platform which is web based and operated as a service from the cloud,” Mr Stoner said.

 

“This one of a kind IT platform was developed by Gao Fu in Sydney and China, and an extensive development plan is in place to further add core functionality consistent with the rapid development of the market and regulatory regime in China.”

 

The Gao Fu venture is expected to create around 20 new jobs in Sydney. ■

 

*Pictured top left: Mr Geoff Ross, Chairman, Gao Fu, Andrew Stoner, NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Trade and Investment and Dr Fang Xinghai, Director General of the Shanghai Municipal Government Financial Service Offices.