The China Finance 40 Forum or CF40 is a Chinese

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

created in 2008 which specializes on issues of economic and financial policy. In January 2021, the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program The Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP) was a non-profit program at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that operated from 1989 to 2021. TTCSP was originally established at the Foreign Policy Research Institu ...

ranked CF40 as #8 top think tank in China, and #31 among think tanks in China, India, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

History and development

Former China Coal Merchants' Bank Building

CF40 was created on 12 April 2008 as a club of 40 finance experts under 40 years of age, thus its name. It was founded and developed by Wang Haiming, previously a journalist and chief editor at

21st Century Business Herald The ''21st Century Business Herald'' (also spelled ''Twenty-first Century Business Herald''; abbreviation: 21CBH; ), is a Chinese business-news daily newspaper published in China. It was officially launched by Shen Hao on January 1, 2001, as part ...

Chen Yuan Chen Yuan (, born in January 1945) is a Chinese economist who served as the Chairman of the China Development Bank from March 1998 to April 2013. Chen Yuan then served as Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Politica ...

is its founding chairman. Based in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, CF40 has also created the Shanghai Finance Institute (SFI) in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

and the Northern Finance Institute (NFI) in

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

, in 2011 and 2016 respectively. Wang Haiming is Executive President of both institutes. Both are located in buildings with connections to China's financial history: SFI in the former Shanghai branch of

Yien Yieh Commercial Bank Yien Yieh Commercial Bank () was a bank in Hong Kong. It was established in Beijing in 1915 by Mr. Zhang Zhenfang (), the cousin of Yuan Shikai, to support the specialized salt industry by providing official funds under government supervision. Yien ...

, and NFI in the former Tianjin branch of the

Franco-Chinese Bank The Franco-Chinese Bank, in French Banque Franco-Chinoise (BFC), full name Banque Franco-Chinoise pour le Commerce et l’Industrie ( zh, 中法工商银行), was a French bank with operations in China and French Indochina, and later in the Ind ...

. CF40 organizes events and conferences, alone or in partnership with other think tanks that have included Bruegel the

Euro 50 Group The Euro 50 Group, sometimes Euro50, is a group of individuals that organizes non-public meetings to debate European economic and financial policy themes, with an emphasis on monetary policy and the euro area. It is led by Edmond Alphandéry, w ...

, and the

Peterson Institute for International Economics The Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), known until 2006 as the Institute for International Economics (IIE), is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It was founded by C. Fred Bergsten in 1981 and has been led by ...

. One of CF40's flagship events is the yearly " Bund Summit" in

, a series that started in 2019. The 2020 Bund Summit was the venue for

Jack Ma Jack Ma Yun (; born 10 September 1964) is a Chinese business magnate, investor and philanthropist. He is the co-founder and former executive chairman of Alibaba Group, a multinational technology conglomerate. In addition, he co-founded Yunfeng ...

's speech on financial regulation in China which has been widely associated with the suspension of

Ant Group Ant Group ()'','' formerly known as Ant Financial, is an affiliate company of the Chinese conglomerate Alibaba Group. The group owns the world's largest mobile (digital) payment platform Alipay, which serves over 1.3 billion users and 80 million ...

's initial public offering. CF40 publishes studies and a periodical journal, ''China Finance Review''. Its yearly "Jingshan Report" is a reference publication on China's financial system.

CF40-affiliated experts

As of early 2021, CF40 advisers include

Chen Yulu Chen Yulu (; born November 1966) is a Chinese economist, educator, author, and politician who has been president of Nankai University since August 2022. He was deputy governor of People's Bank of China from October 2015 to August 2022. He has prev ...

, Hu Huaibang, Hu Xiaolian,

Huang Qifan Huang Qifan (, born May 1952) is a Chinese politician, best known for his term as the Mayor of Chongqing, one of China's four directly-controlled municipalities, between 2010 and 2016. Huang began his political career in Shanghai and was transf ...

Jiang Chaoliang Jiang Chaoliang (; born 1 August 1957) is a Chinese politician and investor. In the past, he has served as the governor of Jilin province in Northeast China, and an executive at China Development Bank and the Agricultural Bank of China. Jiang is ...

Jiang Jianqing Jiang Jianqing (; born 1 February 1953) is the former Chairman of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world's largest bank by assets and 2nd market value; he held the position from 2005 to 2016. Biography Jiang worked pila ...

, Lin Yifu (Justin Lin), Qin Xiao,

Wu Jinglian Wu Jinglian (; born January 24, 1930) is one of the preeminent economists of the People's Republic of China (PRC), primarily specializing in economic policy as it applies to China's ongoing series of economic reforms. Renowned for his resolute ...

, ,

Yi Gang Yi Gang () (born 5 March 1958) is the Governor of the People's Bank of China since 2018. He is also the former Director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. Biography Yi Gang was born in Beijing, March 5, 1958. He studied at Beijin ...

, Yu Yongding, and Zhu Min. Also as of early 2021, CF40's Academic Committee is chaired by and its members include Huang Yiping and

Pan Gongsheng Pan Gongsheng (; born July 8, 1963) is a Chinese economist who is the current Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary and governor of the People's Bank of China (PBC) and the Director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. At the ...

. CF40's resident Senior Fellows include Guan Tao, and its nonresident Senior Fellows include

Xiao Gang Xiao Gang (; born 1958 in Ji'an, Jiangxi) was the chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission from March 2013 until 20 February 2016. He was previously chairman of the board of directors of Bank of China Limited, of the Bank of China ...

, Zhang Bin, and Zhang Xiaohui.

Notes

{{China-stub Think tanks established in 2008 Political and economic think tanks based in China Research institutes in China Global economic research Organizations based in Beijing

History and development

CF40-affiliated experts

See also

Notes