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The Econometric Society officially named Prof. Tao Zha, Distinguished Professor of Economics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance, as Fellow of Econometric Society on November 17th, 2017. Founded on December 20th, 1930, the Econometric Society is one of the largest and most respected economic societies, which gathers the best economists across the world. 20 new fellows were named in 2017, among which Prof. Zha is the sole Chinese economist. Prof. Zha’s research interest focuses on macroeconomics, financial economics, Chinese economy and econometrics. At present, he serves as Chair Professor of Economics at Emory University and Director of Center for Quantitative Economics Research at Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Three of his articles have been quoted by the Committee of Nobel Prizes in Economic Sciences. He has also won the grants of National Science Foundation and ECB Wim Duisenberg Fund. Prof. Zha has acted as Distinguished Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) and Director of Center for Macro Financial Research at China Academy of Financial Research (CAFR) since 2013. Thanks to his sponsorship, SAIF Center for Macro Financial Research was officially launched in December 2013, which is committed to driving the construction of fundamental data on China’s macroeconomy, analysis on typical facts and modeling characterized by China’s regime.

Prof. Statty Stattev, D.Sc.(Econ.), Professor of Economics, University of National and World Economy (UNWE), Sofia, Bulgaria, was present at SAIF-CAFR Lecture on November 18th, 2017 and provided an exciting keynote speech on the Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative and macroeconomy in EU, in the front of nearly 200 participants from Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) and Antai College of Economics & Management (ACEM). Prof. Stattev, one of the leading scientists, economists and mathematicians in Bulgaria, currently serves as Professor and Chancellor at UNWE, Chairman of Board of Supervisors at Bulgarian National Bank, Chairman of Bulgarian Association of Chancellors and banker. According to Prof. Stattev, as one of the entrances of China’s B&R into EU, Bulgaria is now extensively promoting the initiative and is eager to increase the depth and breadth of its involvement in the Silk Road. As to the economic development in EU, Prof. Stattev noted that so far, EU’s political integration exceeded its economic integration, which resulted in a number of setbacks and concerns to Europe. He hoped that centralized financial and treasury policies would be developed and implemented in the Eurozone. After the speech, Prof. Stattev also discussed the greatest challenges Bulgaria is now facing and the potential benefits and challenges in “16+1” with Prof. Chun Chang, Executive Dean at SAIF and responded the questions from participants.

Recently, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) officially released its Employment Report 2017. According to the report, SAIF saw off 56 SAIF MF graduates in 2017. Two of the graduates decided to continue their education, while the remaining 54 graduates received job offers, with the mean of starting salary at nearly RMB270,000 and the median at RMB200,000. Thanks to the specialized and world-oriented curriculum of SAIF MF Program, 15% of SAIF MF 2017 graduates have joined financial institutions in Hong Kong, US, Austria, France and other developed markets. SAIF MF Program moved up to 14th in the world and 1st in Asia in the Financial Times’ (FT) 2017 ranking of global business schools published in June 2017. It was also reported that 96% of SAIF MBA graduates in 2017 received job offers from employers and 4% started their own businesses. The percentage of finance-related offers doubled, from 41% before enrollment to 87%, and most of the employers were leading financial institutions in China. For years, SAIF FMBA graduates have been highly favored by financial institutions. By the date of report release, among 46 SAIF FMBA 2017 graduates, the mean of starting salary was RMB248,000, up to the peak of RMB500,000.

SAIF Financial Forum organized by Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) was held in Nanjing on May 21, 2017. At the forum, different views about China’s economic restructuring and capital market development were expressed by renowned economists, financial scholars and executives of financial institutions, including Chun Chang, Executive Dean of SAIF; Min Zhu, Former Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Vice Governor of the People’s Bank of China and President of the National Institute of Financial Research; Jinlao Huang, Executive Vice President of Finance Suning and Director of Suning Financial Research Institute. Min Zhu shared his insights about changes in the world economic structure, the, Trump shock and policy shifts. . Chun Chang delivered a keynote speech on China’s economic restructuring and the financing of light-assets companies. Jinlao Huang offered his views on consumer upgrades and Internet financial service support”. During the round table discussion, Chun Chang and Jinlao Huang were joined by Chaojun Xu, Chairman of Nanjing Financial Assets Exchange; and Yidong Zhang, Chief Strategy Analyst of Industrial Securities and Deputy Director of Industrial Securities Research Institute. The group had an in-depth discussion on the development status and reform trends and on how the financial industry could ride the current international economic and financial waves. The forum attracted nearly 400 guests from the academic, industry and regulatory communities. Yanqing Yang, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of China Business News and President of CBN Research Institute, presided over the forum.

SAIF Financial Forum organized by Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) was held in Fuzhou on July 1, 2017 under the theme of “Trends and Innovation: Financial Reform and China’s Economy”. At the forum, open dialogues on the trends and opportunities for economic and financial development of China were staged among renowned economists, financial scholars and executives of financial institutions, including Dr. Shusong Ba, Chief Economist of China Banking Association and Chief Chinese Economist of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited; Yan Hong, Deputy Dean and Professor of Finance at SAIF; Yidong Zhang, Chief Strategy Analyst of Industrial Securities and Deputy Director of Industrial Securities Research Institute. Prof. Chen Xinlei, Deputy Dean of SAIF, delivered an opening speech. Dr. Shusong Ba delivered a keynote speach entitled “China’s Economic and Financial Policy in 2017: Review and Prospect”. Yidong Zhang elaborated the “world of core assets” from three perspectives. Prof. Hong Yan made a keynote speech about “the development of private equity investment industry and the opportunities of asset allocation”. Xinlin Zheng, President of Fujian OneBank; Dachun Lin, founder of Sunnada Communication and Chairman of WinfundInvestment Management Company; Xiang Kong, head of the financial sector and Senior Analyst of CIB Research, joined the above speakers for the round table discussion, at which they shared latest research findings, practical experience and insights about the current development and reform trends of the financial industry and the overall economy. The forum attracted about 400 high-end audiences, including financial academics, practitioners and regulators.

The 8th Summer Institute of Finance, jointly organized by Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF), Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, and PBC School of Finance, was held in Qingdao, Shandong Province, from July 20 to 22, 2017. More than 60 scholars and industry experts from all over the world attended the summit to share their research and insights. Sheridan Titman, former President of the American Finance Association Chair Professor of Finance at the University of Texas at Austin and Special-term Professor of SAIF, served as the Chair of the Jury Committee. Prof. Jiang Wang, Chair of SAIF’s Academic Council, Prof. Chun Chang, Executive Dean, and Prof. Hong Yan, Deputy Dean, along with Prof. Nengjiu Ju, and special-term professors Anmin Zhang and Huibing Zhang were present at the event. The summit this year received 265 papers, 10 of which were selected by a jury panel of more than 30 members to be presented at the summit, in addition to a policy-oriented paper. This summit focused on China’s financial issues and covered such topics as market bubbles, information transmission, executive incentives and corporate governance. SAIF Prof. Hong Yan and special-term Prof. Sheridan Titman,Prof. Huining Cao of CKGSB, and Prof. Hong Zhang of PBCSF presided over the discussions at parallel sessions. SAIF Prof. Nengjiu Ju presented his paper entitled “Optimal Contracting with Unobservable Managerial Hedging”. Scholars from the United States, Canada, Australia and China listened to the presentation and commented on the paper.

Organized by the MIT Sloan School of Management and cosponsored by Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) and School of Economics of Zhejiang University, the 15th China International Conference in Finance was held in Hangzhou from July 12 to 15, 2017. More than 800 scholars and industry experts around the world attended the conference. Jiang Wang, Special-term Professor and Chair of SAIF’s Academic Council, served as the chair of the conference. At the conference, Congjiu Zhu, Vice Governor of Zhejiang Province, delivered a welcome speech, followed by a keynote speech addressed by Sheridan Titman, Professor of the University of Texas, Austin. The conference received nearly 1,200 papers, and a total of 240 papers were shortlisted. The authors were professors and doctoral students from world-class business schools as well as researchers from various financial institutions and regulatory bodies. The papers of several SAIF professors, including Hong Yan, Yeguang Chi and Xiaomeng Lu, were on the shortlist. More than ten papers from nine SAIF special-term professors, including He Zhiguo, Harrison Hong and Lu Zheng, were also included, which made SAIF a prominent contributor in terms of both the number of authors and that of papers. During the three-day academic conference, Tan Wang, Jun Liu, Hong Yan, Huibin Zhang and several other professors of SAIF served as the chair of conference subcommittees, among whom SAIF special-term Prof. Jun Pan acted as the Program Chair and SAIF special-termProf. Xiaoyun Yu was Program Co-Chair.

Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) held a graduation ceremony on July 9, 2017, at which more than 350 graduates were awarded degrees. Prof. Wei Cai, Vice President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, attended the ceremony and addressed a speech. Mr. Jianqin Jiang g, Chairman of China-Central and Eastern Europe Investment Cooperation Fund and former Chairman of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, served as the keynote speaker. Mr. Jiang pointed out that success comes from persistence and perseverance. In the financial sector, the one who sticks to the end will be the king. The financier community appreciates not sprinters but marathon champions. He encouraged the graduates to fight for long-run successes instead of being contented by brief applauses. Graduates of the MF, FMBA, EMBA, DBA and PhD & Ms-PhD programs attended the event. Prof. Jiang Wang, Chair of SAIF’s Academic Councilcongratulated the graduates and hoped that they would always carry the SAIF spirit with them. The graduation ceremony was hosted by Prof. Chang Chun, Executive Dean of SAIF. Jie Pan, Associate Dean, served as the master of the ceremony. More than ten leaders and professors, including Yaguang Wang, Vice Dean of the Graduate School of Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Qigui Zhu, Secretary of the Party Committee of SAIF; Feng Li, Deputy Dean; Hong Yan, Deputy Dean; and Fei Wu, Associate Professor were present at the ceremony. Outstanding graduates were commended at the ceremony. He Wang, Zhang Wenbo, and Chen Xuanxuan---graduates of MF Program, and Zhu Yun and Wang Pengfei---graduates of FMBA Program, were honored as “Distinguished Graduates in Shanghai”. Other fifteen graduates, including Xu Junru and Xu Zhengwei, were honored as “Distinguished Graduates of Shanghai Jiao Tong University”.

A tender offer from China National Chemical Corporation for Swiss Syngenta, the largest pesticide company in the world, officially concluded recently, which means this $43 billion takeover, one of the largest offshore M&A cases engaged by a Chinese corporation, can be delivered once all review and approval processes are finalized. Qian Jun, Professor of Finance at SAIF and Vice Director of China Academy of Financial Research, illustrated three trends and characteristics of offshore M&As by Chinese companies. First of all, many enterprises, especially in traditional industries, are conducting diversified cross-industry M&As. Although diversification has become a major trend, it is necessary to be cautious. Second, with massive M&As and asset allocation across the world in recent years, Chinese enterprises have changed to capital exporters from capital importers as assets, technology, market and industry layout become the targets of such M&As. In the process, country risk evaluation and differences in corporate culture should be alerted. And third, a wave of transnational M&As was formed among Chinese enterprises in 2016. By the first quarter of 2017, the demand continued to increase while it was hit by the difficulties in capital outflow. Recently, as both the foreign exchange reserves and exchange rates are stabilizing, there is no doubt that the tide of offshore M&As would recover if the market remains steady.

Institutional investors in China outperform the market on an ongoing basis! With the adjustment of market risk factors, the total return of stock funds is 6.5% higher than market average. After deducting expenses, it is still 4.75% higher, which is widely different from the US market. How do they make it? A study of Chi Yeguang, Assistant Professor of Finance at Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) of Shanghai Jiao Tong University shows that it is related to the composition of investors as well as the information advantages of institutional investors in China. His thesis named Private Information in the Chinese Stock Market: Evidence from Mutual Funds and Corporate Insiders about the effectiveness of the secondary stock market in China, based on an analysis of positions and returns of 400 actively managed and stock funds from 2003 to 2015 as well as an in-depth research on the stock holdings of major shareholders of listed companies, won the first prize of CFA Best Paper in the 29th Australasian Finance and Banking Conference CFA Institute Research Award in late 2016. According to Prof. Chi, the effectiveness of a secondary market depends on the distribution of information and pricing. First, an effective market should distribute relevant information to all market participants. And second, market participants should be able to analyze the information accurately and influence asset pricing through trading. However, Prof. Chi found that Chinese retail investors fall behind institutions in both areas. First, in terms of information gathering, institutions could gain first-hand information due to their huge database while for retail investors the information flow is much slower. Second, in regard of information analysis, institutions can hire financial experts to analyze the information and trade stocks while retail investors are behindhand. Thus, it is natural for institutions to defeat retail investors and beat the market as the market is dominated by retail investors in China. Still, the profile of China’s stock market is improving on a vertical basis. On one hand, the performance of stock funds is falling with a total decrease of 1.3% over the past decade. On the other hand, the predictability of share prices through what significant shareholders are buying is decreasing in recent years.