LCMC and Lancaster Confucius Institute hold successful seminar in London
Published 4 May 2012
Lancaster China Management Centre & Lancaster University Confucius Institute organized a successful seminar in London on 4 April 2012 in collaboration with Department of Financial & Management Studies, SOAS, University of London and China Britain Business Council. The seminar entitled Internationalisation of the Renminbi: Why China’s haste? Was delivered by Dr Guonan Ma, Senior Economist, the Bank for International Settlements.
Dr Ma explained why a tiny offshore renminbi market in Hong Kong from 2004 only received a lukewarm response until the global financial crisis in 2008-09 when the Chinese government actively promoted the internationalization of its currency as a matter of policy. Further, Dr Ma suggested two key reasons for China’s rush to internationalize its currency: a) China’s increased unease about a dollar-centric international monetary system; and b) China’s large and growing dollar exposure. He also discussed the implications for the renminbi's prospect as a global currency as well as China's trade with the rest of world.
The seminar was very successful in terms of number of participants, diversity of the audience, discussion and feedback. Even though the time of the event was close to the Easter holiday, it still attracted more than 60 people from researchers at different universities, business analysts from investment banks, and journalists from leading press including Reuters, Dow Jones, People’s Daily and Guangming Daily.
Several participants gave positive feedback after the seminar. Both organizers of the seminar, Professor David Brown, the Lancaster China Management Centre and Dr Qihai Huang, Lancaster University Confucius Institute, received acknowledgement emails from some of the participants. One of the participants wrote, ‘Great presentation from Dr. Ma, great introduction from David and organization from Qihai. I did enjoy the seminar and very thoughtful Q&A session. Haven't seen seminars as good as this for a long time'.
For more information about the LCMC, please visit the LCMC webpages.
