This weekend, leaders from the financial sectors of the United States and China will gather in Half Moon Bay, Calif., at a symposium organized by Harvard Law School’s Program on International Financial Systems and the China Development Research Foundation to examine issues affecting the financial relationship between the two countries.
“Now in its fourth year, the China-U.S. Symposium has become an important forum for the constructive dialogue between the financial systems of China and the U.S.,” said Professor Hal Scott, director of the Program. “One of the topics will cover reform of the capital markets in China and the U.S. The effect of regulation on U.S. capital markets has been a major theme of our symposiums this year. To attract more global listings from China and elsewhere, the U.S. needs to have a more accommodating legal environment.”
Entitled “Symposium on Building the Financial System of the 21st Century: An Agenda for China and the United States,” the event will be attended by senior government officials, political advisers, financial firm leaders, lawyers, consultants, scholars, and representatives of the media from both the U.S. and China.
“This symposium, as an annual event, has enhanced mutual understanding,” said LU Mai, secretary general of China Development Research Foundation. “Chinese participants are interested in attending the symposium because they can learn from the experiences of a well-developed capital market in the U.S. They also have the opportunity to present the progress in reforming and opening up the Chinese financial system.”
Speakers at the event will include WU Xiaoling, vice governor of the People’s Bank of China; LI Jiange, vice minister of the Development Research Center of the State Council of China; LI Haiyan, Economic Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in the U.S.; Clay Lowery, assistant secretary for International Affairs at the United States Department of the Treasury; and Robert Hormats, vice chairman and managing director of Goldman Sachs and Co.
The Harvard Law School Program on International Financial Systems was founded in 1986. It was established to conduct research integrating law, economics and finance. In 20 years, the Program has published books, held symposia, and provided policy advice to an array of countries.
Recently, Scott testified before the U.S. House of Representatives about the effect of Sarbanes-Oxley on small businesses. He is the Nomura Professor of International Financial Systems.