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From September 13th to September 15th, the 2021 MF Opening Ceremony was held at the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF). This year's orientation week was held in a combined online and on-site format, which enabled students from all over the world to attend. MF2021 has 71 students from China and overseas. Due to the pandemic, international students in Italy, France, Germany, and Malaysia attended the ceremony virtually. During the ceremony, Professor Chun Chang (Huifu Chair Professor, Executive Dean at SAIF) delivered a welcome speech. In his speech, he encouraged students to balance the following four aspects in their future life at SAIF: the balance between long-term and short-term goals, between the expectation from your parents and your own pursuits, between personal values and social responsibilities, and between study and enjoying life. Professor Tan Wang (MF Academic Director, Professor of Finance at SAIF), Professor Xianglin Li (MF Academic Co-Director, Associate Director of CAFR, Professor of Practice at SAIF), Hongjun An (Founder and Chairman of Genharmony), Professor Chao Zi (Assistant Professor at SAIF), Lin Yang (Director of MF Program) and all MF Program staff attended the opening ceremony. Hongjun An, Professor Wang, and the MF Program Head Ms. Lin Yang shared their life experiences and conveyed their best wishes to the 2021 class. As freshmen at SAIF, MF-General21 student Xiaoshuang Chen (graduate from Peking University with a Bachelor's degree in Economics) and MF-Fintech21 student Junming Chen (graduate from Tsinghua University with a Bachelor's degree in Automation) expressed their excitement and expectation for their new start at SAIF. Taoran Wang from MF-General20 and Yufang Peng from MF-FinTech20 also shared their learning and living experiences at SAIF as senior representatives. Professor Wenjun Qiu (Guest Professor of Practice at SAIF) encouraged students to integrate theory with practice in their study and to actively participate in the CFA Research Challenge. In order to help students better adapt to their upcoming new life at SAIF, the staff from various departments gave an in-depth overview of SAIF MF's curriculum design and comprehensive services. Professor Jie Hu, Professor of Practice at SAIF and former CEO of the Financial Division at Xunlei Group, brought an impressive first class to the students, entitled "A New Face of the Old Financial Kingdom". Professor Hu guided the students in a review of the past, present and future of the financial world, inspiring an industry-oriented macro perspective and deepening their understanding of the industry. Mr. Zhang, who had worked at JP Morgan in London, brought a wonderful practical course to the students, giving them a glance at the financial workplace and training their networking skills. Standing at the starting point of a meaningful new journey, the students wrote down small objectives for the next two years and their wishes for the future. The program team then sealed these "time capsules" for them to open in person when they graduate two years later.

Gianluca Salvicchi was born in Rome. At the age of 13, he started to learn Mandarin and, up to now, has visited Shanghai three times and has studied at SJTU twice. Gianluca is fond of Chinese culture, appreciates education in China, and has confidence in China's economic development. He also acquired a Chinese name -"Zhan LuJiang". Now, at the age of 22, Gianluca has been enrolled in the MF program at SAIF. He's looking forward to his life as a SAIFer and it has always been his dream to study in Shanghai. "I will be able to merge my two loves, China and Finance", he said. Studying at SJTU Again The story between Gianluca and China began when he was in his senior year of high school in Italy. At the age of 13, he became curious about China, a country also possessing an ancient civilization. When he first came to Shanghai for an exchange program, he fell in love with the city immediately. After the one-year exchange, he extended for another year and decided to study in China for a bachelor degree. In 2017, he was admitted to the School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering of SJTU and became an engineering student. Unfortunately, for family reasons, he had to quit SJTU at that time. "Compared to the metro system in Rome, I'm more familiar with the one in Shanghai. It carries my memories of this city". After visiting Shanghai three times, Gianluca is profoundly attracted by the city. He believes that China and SJTU have encouraged him a lot, allowing him to broaden his horizons and helping him with his future development. Influenced by his father, Gianluca has been very interested in financial knowledge since he was a child. After returning to Italy, he entered the Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali (LUISS Guido Carli), known as the "Harvard of Italy", to study economics. During the four years study at university, a friend introduced him to the development of the SJTU Minhang Business Area. He learned that China was developing rapidly and he was even more optimistic about China's future economic development. "China is seeking its path of development, and I'm happy to see its energy and capacity. I believe that Shanghai will further expand its competitiveness as an international financial center. The internationalization of the RMB is also around the corner. I hope I can contribute to the development of China's finance development in the future." For Gianluca, SJTU is his second home, and SAIF is the perfect choice to combine his interests in both China and Finance. Therefore, it is no surprise for him to choose SAIF. "It has everything I want - professional knowledge, financial skills. And it can help me return to Shanghai and support me with my future career," he said. Choosing SAIF As a finance student, Gianluca had always been interested in secondary market investment activities and macroeconomic developments. He has used his professional knowledge to manage his personal assets and achieved good results. In the future, he hopes to create value for his clients in the same way. "I want to become a good wealth management advisor and I hope to set up my own hedge fund in the future." Though it's not time for school yet, Gianluca has already started preparatory courses, including: Overview of Financial Markets, Business Chinese, Introduction to Python, C and C++ Programming. "These preparatory courses at SAIF helped me consolidate and deepen my understanding of financial knowledge," Gianluca said. "The programming courses and other skills courses can help me become an inter-disciplinary talent. And the Chinese language course arranged specifically for international students is good for my business communication skills." He also received one-to-one career counseling from the CDC, which benefited him a great deal. "The coach objectively pointed out my shortcomings and strengths, gave me advice on course selection, and also taught me some interview skills, which gave me confidence in my future career development."Gianluca was deeply moved by the thoughtfulness of the CDC staff. To avoid late-night courses for international students, they arranged time reasonably. "Although school has not started yet, SAIF has already provided various preparatory courses and career planning for students. I think it is very professional and I can also feel its warmth and love." Due to the coronavirus, Gianluca will take courses virtually at this stage. He is looking forward to the upcoming semester, "I hope the pandemic will be controlled soon. And I hope to study in the SAIF classroom as soon as possible."In the future, besides further enhancing his financial knowledge and skills at SAIF, he also hopes to found a club to study secondary markets with friends. "SAIF is a platform that gathers finance talents in and beyond China. I believe we can work out a lot of interesting ideas here!" Gianluca likes asking questions because he enjoys the intellectual challenge when seeking answers. Despite setbacks sometimes, he believes that he will grow quickly in this process of exploration. As a foreigner, he often describes himself as "a foreign body with a Chinese soul". He believes that with the support of SAIF, his future will be promising.

On July 14, the 2021 SAIF Wealth Management Industry Summit and the Release of "The Report on China Residents'Investment and Financial Management Behaviors (the Report)" was held at the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). Professor Guangshao Tu (Adjunct Professor at SJTU and Executive Director of the SAIF Board) delivered a speech. Professor Hong Yan (Deputy Dean for Faculty and Research, Professor of Finance) gave his analysis of the Report. In his speech, Professor Tu emphasized the importance of residents'investment and financial management. He also pointed out that residents'investment and financial behavior directly influenced social financing structure, allocation of market resources, and capital market development. "Residents'investment and financial management should be valued,"said Professor Tu. Tu summarized and analyzed six trends of the current changes in residents'investment and financial management. These included: the rapid growth of aggregate demand, the continuous differentiation of demand structure, the transition of wealth structure, the transformation of the financial service industry, the empowering role of capital management technology, and the gradually standardized market order. Tu also gave suggestions on how to respond to the changing demands of residents through various avenues, such as: capital market development, improving the capability of capital management institutions, upgrading the market service system, enhancing investors'education, and promoting the standardization of the financial management market. "Problems and needs guide us to better promote the sound development of wealth management industry and the market,"Professor Tu mentioned. The Report was jointly released by SAIF, the China Academy of Finance Research (CAFR), and the Ant Group Research Institute. Professor Tu stated that the study combines SAIF's top academic research team with the Ant Research Institute's data resources; the two sides complemented each other. Moreover, he highly recommended the Report as an investment and financial management guideline to residents. Professor Hong Yan started the Report release session with an introduction to its background and methodology, combined with the main findings in the Report and some reflection about the research process. Professor Yan Hong said that since the Reform and Opening Up, Chinese residents have continued to accumulate wealth, generating increasing demands for wealth management. With guidance from the government, industry associations, and academia, financial awareness among Chinese residents has risen. In the current context of the rigid repayment break, interest rate decline, and real estate regulation, the wealth management demands of residents have been further released and transformed. This brings opportunities and challenges for the development of China's wealth management industry. To understand the current situation, in March 2021, CAFR and Ant Group Research Institute conducted an online questionnaire survey on active Alipay users in different age groups and regions to analyze the main characteristics of Chinese residents' investment and financial management behavior. With the results and findings of the survey, the Report was completed. Professor Yan then introduced the main conclusion in the Report. According to the evaluation of residents' financial health, most of the Chinese residents have set up family reserve funds or have purchased insurance, which demonstrates their risk management awareness. Evaluation dimensions were risk management awareness, asset allocation diversification, financial goals and planning, and family debt management. Residents'financial investment preferences are relatively conservative and mainly focus on bank deposits. Overall, their financial planning awareness needs to be improved and they have not formed a disciplined financial planning habit. Although the general indebtedness is manageable, some households have problems with debt management. The Report also analyzes the current financial management behaviors of Chinese residents in terms of their investment return expectations, insurance allocation, investment period, blind follow-up, automatic investment plans, and the deployment of professional investment advisors. The research finds that residents'expectation of returns is relatively high, especially among the highly educated group. However, their financial returns are often lower than expected. Most residents believe that they are lacking in ability to select products, especially those having only a small amount of financial assets. At the same time, residents prefer life insurance products; people with different income sources and in different age groups also have significant differences in buying insurance. The report also shows that the long-term value investment habits of Chinese residents have not yet been developed, while people with confidence in their investment ability, high education, and high income are more willing to hold funds for the long term. The "buying winners and selling losers"phenomenon is common in residents'investment and financial management, while the proportion of investors who have the habit of automatic investment and choose to seek professional investment advisory services still needs improvement. Subsequently, participants discussed "How can financial institutions serve the investment and financial demands of residents"and expressed some opinions in the Report.

The 2021 SAIF Faculty Retreat was successfully held in Nantong, Jiangsu Province from June 28th to the 30th. The retreat was conducted both onsite and virtually, with a total of nearly 60 participants, including faculty, management, and department chiefs. The retreat focused on SAIF's development over the past year and shed light on such topics as talent training and think tank construction. With the strengths of faculty governance and active inter-departmental cooperation, the annual retreat effectively promotes SAIF's faculty development, discipline construction, and educational program innovation. This year's retreat was presided over by Professor Hong Yan (Deputy Dean for faculty and research at SAIF). Professor Chun Chang (Executive Dean at SAIF) introduced the key tasks including think tank construction and educational programs development related to SAIF’s Phase III strategic development. SAIF's recent achievements, including its extended AACSB accreditation and its discipline ranking, were also mentioned. Hui Wang, Mayor of Nantong, also attended and addressed the meeting. “Nantong city and Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) have had a close relationship since over a century ago," Mayor Wang said, "and it has been deepened recently by the signing of the strategic cooperation agreement between the two parties." He also introduced the current development of Nantong's economy and hoped to develop deeper collaboration with SAIF in the future. In the educational programs and research sessions, program directors from MF, MBA, and EED briefed the progress of their respective programs, analyzed the challenges they faced, and proposed innovative measures for future development. Professor Feng Li, Associate Director of CAFR, systematically introduced the school's think tank development and the training programs delivered by CAFR and SAIFR. On June 29th, the award ceremony for the "SAIF Outstanding Teaching Award"was also held during the retreat. Professor Eric Chang was awarded the 5th SAIF Outstanding Teaching Award. This award is sponsored by the "Weiye Teacher Scholarship"founded by Weiming Wang (a SAIF alumnus), to honor SAIF faculty for their outstanding contributions to teaching. On June 30th, the inauguration ceremony of the SAIF Qinglan Fund was held. The SAIF Qinglan Fund, an essential part of the SAIF faculty support fund system, recruits and cultivates high-level academic talent and provides targeted support to junior faculty in academic research. Professor Guangshao Tu (Executive Director of the SAIF Board), as one of the fund launchers, emphasized that the Qinglan Fund was established to promote young scholars to direct their efforts in teaching and research toward advancing SAIF’s development. Professor Chun Chang introduced the fund’s operation mode and expressed his gratitude to the faculty and alumni for their support. He also stated that as a research-oriented business school, SAIF would strive to further enhance its finance discipline and research development efforts. After a comprehensive discussion, Professor Guangshao Tu and Professor Jiang Wang (Chair of Academic Council) gave their concluding remarks. Professor Tu analyzed the demands and strategic layout of SAIF's educational programs, disciplines, and market from different perspectives, including: the adaptation to social development, the relationship between finance and the real economy, and regional development. Professor Wang said that an overall strategy and a long-term perspective are indispensable in building a world-class finance school; therefore, SAIF should strive for comprehensive development in teaching, academic research, policy, and applied research in the future. He also stressed that SAIF must expand its faculty team, strengthen its research force, and establish effective mechanisms to provide strong support for continuous research output.

On June 30th, the establishment ceremony of the SAIF Qinglan Fund was held. Professor Guangshao Tu (Adjunct Professor at SJTU and Executive Director of the SAIF Board) and Professor Chun Chang (Executive Dean, Professor of Finance and Huifu Chair Professor at SAIF) delivered speeches. All SAIF professors and members of the management team attended the ceremony. Professor Guangshao Tu emphasized that the Qinglan Fund was established to promote young scholars to direct their efforts in teaching and research toward advancing SAIF's academic research and contributing to its think tanks. Professor Chun Chang said in his speech that SAIF, with its top academic research and extraordinary educational programs, takes the lead in the financial disciplines in China. The SAIF Qinglan Fund, an endowment fund jointly established by Professor Tu, along with many SAIF professors and alumni, will further support SAIF's lead position in the finance arena. The SAIF Qinglan Fund, one of the funds donated to by professors, introduces and cultivates of high-level young academic talent and provides targeted support for junior faculty in academic research. It will be used for the Qinglan Research Award and the Qinglan Scholars Program, and can also be used to support junior faculty at SAIF. The Qinglan Fund has set up a sub-fund, the Qinglan-Pudong Science Investment Fund. According to fund management regulations, people and enterprises from all areas can now donate to it. Anyone who donates more than a certain amount can become a director of the fund; he or she would then also have the right to rename the sub-fund.

On July 3rd, the 2021 SAIF Commencement Ceremony was held in the auditorium at the Xuhui Campus of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). This year's event featured remarks from Qing Wu (Vice Mayor of Shanghai, Chairman of the SAIF Board) and Zhenbin Yang (Chairperson of the SJTU University Council, Vice Chairman of SAIF Board). The ceremony was also broadcast live to enable graduates and professors overseas to participate virtually. In his opening remarks, Professor Zhenbin Yang praised the remarkable achievements SAIF had made in recent years. "SAIF has effectively promoted SJTU's "First-class universities and disciplines of the world" construction and provided both talents and think tanks for the development of the Shanghai International Financial Center and the Global Science and Technology Innovation Center,"Professor Yang said. "In your new life journal, be perseverant, be honest, progress with foresight, and always strive for the prosperity of our nation," he remarked to the graduates. Vice mayor Qing Wu, in his speech, gave his best wishes to the graduates. He inspired all graduates to contribute greater efforts toward their future careers. In 2021, a total of 405 MF, MBA, EMBA, GES, and PhD students were awarded their degrees by SAIF. Included among them are the first class of Fintech Track graduates from SAIF’s flagship MF program. The Fintech graduates are heavily favored by the market; each student completes two years of systematic courses in finance, statistics, machine learning, and computer skills. The data provided by the SAIF Career Development Center shows that the placement rate of Fintech graduates is 100% and that half of them received more than three job offers. Meanwhile, the placement rate of MF General Track graduates was also 100% in 2021. Secondary market investment and research, sales and trading, consulting and investment banking are the main job functions for this year's MF graduates. By the end of June, the placement rate of 2021 full-time MBA graduates had reached nearly 95%. The top two industries they entered were asset management and investment banking or consulting (security/financial). During the ceremony, nineteen 2020 graduates and sixteen 2021 graduates received the "Shanghai Outstanding Graduate" award. Thirty-three 2020 graduates and thirty 2021 graduates received the "SJTU Outstanding Graduate"award. Shuwang Yan, a graduate representative from the EMBA program delivered an extraordinary graduation speech in which he reflected upon his own learning experience and expressed gratitude to SAIF. Three graduate donor representatives accepted the graduation donation certificates. To encourage students with remarkable achievements, all funds from the donations will be granted as scholarships to SAIF MBA and MF students. At the ceremony, Jianjun Wang (Executive President of the Alumni Association at SAIF) warmly welcomed all graduates to join the SAIF Alumni Association. Together with the 2021 graduates, the 2020 graduates were also invited to join the commencement, which was canceled last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Professor Chun Chang, Professor Qigui Zhu, Professor Hong Yan, and Professor Feng Li awarded the graduation certificates to both 2020 and 2021 graduates and took photos with them. At present, SAIF has produced over 5000 graduates, all of whom now contribute to the progress of China's finance industry.

On June 25, 2021, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) Board of Directors officially informed the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) that its accreditation had been extended for an additional five years. SAIF first earned its AACSB accreditation in 2016 and became one of the youngest accredited business schools in the world. International AACSB accredited institutions must complete an intensive peer-review process every five years to ensure continued compliance with evolving business education standards. From May 9th to May 11th, an AACSB Peer Review Team (PRT) conducted a virtual continuous improvement review on SAIF. The PRT was chaired by Professor Kalok Chan (Former Dean of the School of Business, Chairman of the Department of Finance, the Chinese University of Hong Kong), with Professor Wei-Chi Tsai (Dean, School of Business, National Chengchi University) and Professor Chae-Yeol Yang (Dean, School of Business Administration, Chonnam National University) as members. After a series of online interviews and conversations with SAIF stakeholders (including the management team, faculty, staff, students, alumni, as well as representatives of donors and employers), the PRT completed its comprehensive evaluation on SAIF's development during the past five years. These included its development strategies and goals, faculty management, intellectual contributions, educational programs, curriculum management, allocation of resources, and other aspects. After the review, the PRT applauded the outstanding achievements made by SAIF over the past five years. "SAIF has an open, friendly, and collegial culture. The school offers high-quality courses and provides students with a strong theoretical foundation, international perspectives, and local insights. Meanwhile, SAIF is quite responsive to market needs; for example, it comes up with the Fintech track for the MF program, and the Innovation Finance track for the EMBA program. In addition, its Chinese Academy of Financial Research (CAFR) fulfills an important mission of policy research and applied research, and creates research impact that can influence policy making,"stated Professor Kalok Chan, on behalf of the PRT. "Modeled after leading business schools in the world, SAIF obtained its initial AACSB accreditation only six years since its inception. The successful re-accreditation this year undoubtedly marks the recognition of our achievements in the past 12 years by the international peers. With our world-class faculty, innovative research, and leading curricula, SAIF will continue to provide finance education to the highest standards, endeavor to fulfill its mission to be a world-class institution, and make greater contributions to the financial industry development both in China and globally,"said Professor Chun Chang, SAIF Executive Dean.

Shanghai Ranking Consultancy introduced the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) 2021 on May 26, 2021. Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) and Tsinghua University ranked 1st and 2nd among mainland Chinese universities in Finance. In terms of the specific evaluation of academic indicators in Finance, SJTU ranked 1st among mainland Chinese universities with the weighted number of papers published in top journals scoring at 56.8, the average impact of papers published scoring at 81.8, and the percentage of internationally cooperative papers published scoring at 82.3. Shanghai Ranking Consultancy is a top-class organization dedicating to research on higher education intelligence and consultation. It has been the official publisher of the Academic Ranking of World Universities since 2009, and its Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) contains rankings of universities in 54 subjects. In 2021, more than 1,800 out of 4,000 universities across 93 countries and regions were listed among its rankings. GRAS rankings use a range of objective academic indicators to measure the performance of world universities in respective subjects, including: papers published, research influence, international collaboration, research quality, and international academic awards. Compared with last year, the number of universities in mainland China on the list (and the total number of their listed subjects) significantly increased by 7.5% and 11.3%, respectively, this year. In 2021, SJTU ranked among the world's top 10 in 6 subjects, with more than 40 subjects on the list in total; it ranks 1st in Marine/Ocean Engineering.

On April 17, 2021, an appreciation ceremony for the 3rd anniversary of the establishment of the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) Donation Wall was held at the Xuhui Campus at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). Professor Guangshao Tu (Adjunct Professor at SJTU and Executive Director at SAIF) and Professor Chun Chang (Executive Dean, Professor of Finance and Huifu Chair Professor at SAIF) delivered welcome speeches. At the beginning of the ceremony, Professor Jie Pan (Vice Dean at SAIF) introduced the history of the SAIF Donation Wall to the donors and alumni. In April 2018, in recognition of the contributions to the development of SAIF made by donors, the SAIF Donor Wall was officially established in the south hall at SAIF at Xuhui Campus. At present, 100 individuals, 14 classes, and 19 enterprises have been listed on the wall. Many of them have made multiple donations, which fully reflects the SAIF donation culture — "Be thankful for mutual benefits". In April 2019, SAIF ran a special donation program called "Step By Step" to celebrate its 10th anniversary of establishment. Professor Chang said in his speech that SAIF donors demonstrate the "Gratitude"spirit of both SJTU and the International Business School, which is one of the most precious assets of SAIF since its establishment twelve years ago. He hoped that with the spirit of SJTU and the power of SAIF, donors and SAIF would continue to be of benefit to each other. As a representative donor of the "Step By Step”program, Professor Tu said that the development of SAIF was inseparable from the care and support of all kinds of shareholders, with special recognition being given to the donors. Through the program, Professor Tu jointly established the "SAIF Qinglan Fund" with several professors. He hoped that these programs and funds would promote young scholars to collaborate in their efforts with teaching and research to build SAIF into a world-class financial school.

On January 29th, 2021, the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) held the 2020 Year-End Meeting & Award Ceremony. Professor Kuiling Ding, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Committee and Executive Vice President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU); Professor Guangshao Tu, Adjunct Professor at SJTU and Executive Director of SAIF and Professor Jiang Wang, Executive Director and Chair of Academic Council at SAIF delivered speeches, followed by an annual report by Professor Chun Chang, Executive Dean and Huifu Chair Professor at SAIF. Nearly 200 faculty and staff members were in attendance. During his speech, Professor Kuiling Ding congratulated SAIF on its achievements in the “extraordinary year” of 2020, under the great impact of COVID-19 outbreak. He also pointed out that the next decade will be a critical period for SJTU to solidify its position at the forefront of leading universities and for SAIF to build itself into a world-class financial school. He hoped that SAIF faculty and staff would make a joint effort to kick off the upcoming new year and to develop SAIF into one of the SJTU’s best brands. Professor Guangshao Tu delivered a speech on the theme of “Farewell to the Old and Welcome to the New”, in which he summed up the past and looked forward to the future with three key words: “celebration”, “appreciation”, and “blessing”. Professor Chun Chang reviewed the overall development of SAIF in 2020, including organizational structure, faculty pooling, human resources development, academic research, policy think tank and partnerships. An award ceremony was followed on which several individuals and teams were rewarded for their outstanding performances during the past year.