On September 26, 2022, SAIF officially launched its Putuo Center and SAIFR (an applied research platform) also moved in. This marks further strategic cooperation between SAIF and the People’s Government of Shanghai Putuo District. Both sides will start in-depth cooperation in the CGFT Certificate Program, the industry-academia exchange platform, and the science and innovation financial ecosystem.
Guangshao Tu (Member of the CPPCC, Executive Director of the SAIF Board) and Dongdong Jiang (Secretary of Shanghai Putuo District Committee) attended the inauguration ceremony and delivered speeches. The ceremony was presided over by Xuan Luo (Associate Dean of SAIF). Hongzhen Li (Member of the Standing Committee of the Putuo District Committee, Minister of the Organization Department, President of the Party School) and Shijun Cheng (Executive Dean, Professor of Accounting at SAIF), Rulin Yao (Standing Committee Member of Putuo District Committee, Vice Mayor, Party Member), Feng Li (Professor of Accounting, Associate Director of CAFR, Co-Director of SAIFR), and Jie Pan (Associate Dean of SAIF) also attended the ceremony.
Tu pointed out in his speech that, with the inauguration of the SAIF Putuo Center and the move-in of SAIFR, we now have a strategic cooperation between the institute and the local government. Since its establishment in 2009, SAIF has taken up the intellectual support mantle for the development of Shanghai as an International Financial Center and China's national financial system. SAIF has resource advantages in financial talent training and research platform construction, while Putuo District shoulders the important task of economic and industrial transformation with its own development advantages. Cooperation between the two sides can be both complementary and synergetic. In turn, this can help the upgrading of Shanghai's fintech industry cluster and accelerate the development of new industries. The simultaneous release of the Chartered Global FinTech (CGFT) Level 3 Certificate Program not only reflects the importance of fintech development for the financial system, but also provides talent and intellectual support for financial institutions to enhance service efficiency and reduce costs in their process of digital transformation.
On behalf of Putuo District, Dongdong Jiang expressed his congratulations for the inauguration of the SAIF Putuo Center. He said that the Putuo District will further attract finance enterprises to move-in to upgrade their financial, industrial, innovation, and functional layouts. While building itself a financial landmark and optimizing financial ecology, Putuo will also work together with SAIF and SAIFR to hold influential financial brand activities, and promote interactive exchanges for talent, information, and capital.
In January of 2020, the People's Government of Shanghai Putuo District, SAIF, and SAIFR reached a strategic cooperation agreement in order to accelerate the economic and social development of the Putuo District. This will help enhance Shanghai's fintech industry cluster, as well as to accelerate the pace of building SAIF as an international first-class finance institute. Furthermore, we expect to provide solutions for the development of the financial industry and to cultivate superb and practical talent. According to the agreement, the three sides will strengthen financial research exploration and practice, carry out all-round talent training, and conduct research on pressing issues of financial industry development in the Putuo District. The inauguration of the SAIF Putuo Center and the official settlement of SAIFR is an important step to deepen strategic cooperation among the three sides.
The newly inaugurated SAIF Putuo Center is yet another teaching satellite of SAIF after the Shanghai Xuhui Campus, the Beijing Center, and the Shenzhen Center. Equipped with classrooms, meeting rooms, recording rooms, and offices, it will serve as the main office of SAIFR in the future.
At the ceremony, Feng Li officially launched the CGFT Level 3 Certificate Program on behalf of SAIFR. In June 2020, the program was first launched in China to match the development trend of fintech in China and overseas, to further the construction of Shanghai as an International Financial Center, and to meet the urgent demands of the market for fintech talent. The program integrates Finance, Law, and Technology together and provides multi-dimensional courses to cultivate innovative, practical, and professional fintech talent. The CGFT Level 1 course focuses on the cognitive establishment of a complete knowledge system. The CGFT Level 2 course, launched in June of this year, focuses on the in-depth integration of course knowledge with specific application scenarios. The newly released Level 3 course focuses on the expanding breadth of exploration, further realizing the integration of finance and technology. In addition, the program introduces international cutting-edge theoretical research results and leading training system. A large number of application-oriented cases cover whole scenarios of application.
Feng Li pointed out that the CGFT program has been widely supported and recognized by regulatory authorities and local governments. In August 2021, CGFT holders were listed in the FinTech Shortage Talent Directory of the 14th Five-Year Shortage Talent Development Directory of Shanghai's Key Fields (Finance). Since its launch, the program has reached strategic cooperation agreements with more than 20 leading financial institutions, covering more than 20 provinces and cities, and more than 100 universities across China.
