To celebrate the Year of the Dragon, Sibos, SWIFT’s annual financial services conference, exhibition and networking event, is being held for the first time in China.
By moving to Beijing from Toronto, SWIFT hopes to strengthen its position as a global provider of secure financial messaging services, as the city is home to the majority of China’s largest companies and the largest number of Fortune Global 500 companies in the world.
In a welcome video released ahead of the opening of the Sibos conference on Monday, Wang Ying of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Local Financial Regulation says Beijing is the only city in China benefiting from programs that are part of its pilot free trade zone, nicknamed the “Two zones.” ” The pilot program, launched in 2020, allows Beijing to test a wide range of innovation policies and keep pace with prevailing international economic and trade rules.
“Beijing has played a leading role in opening up China’s financial sector and is closely connected to global financial networks,” she says. “The adoption of Sibos in Beijing will definitely help promote communication and collaboration in the financial community around the world.”
The “two zones” led to the implementation of more than 10 special reform plans covering about 500 measures, leading to the implementation of almost 50 policies at the national level. More than 19,000 projects are registered in the “Two Zones”, of which more than 12,000 have already been launched.
The 2023 China New Financial Development Index report said that in addition to a favorable environment for financial innovation and development, Beijing has made significant strides in areas such as fintech applications, developing green finance, promoting inclusive finance, innovation in pension provision. finance and digital finance creation.
The Year of the Dragon is seen as a prosperous year where innovation and business can flourish, and this year’s Sibos conference theme of ‘Connecting the Future of Finance’ makes Beijing, with its proactive approach to promoting innovation, an ideal place for discussions. the future of finance with all its challenges and opportunities.