Bund Campus unveiled& Real Estate Finance Forum

Release time：2018-01-15    

The Bund financial agglomeration zone, known as the “golden belt” of Chinese economy, has developed rapidly in recent years and veritably become a new economic highland. Together with Lujiazui Financial City across the Huangpu River, it is now creating a new generation of international financial center in Shanghai.

Fanhai International School of Finance (FISF) is the first international finance school jointly established by government, university and enterprise in China. Its settlement in the Bund financial agglomeration zone not only thanks to the support of Fudan Universty, China Oceanwide Holdings Group and Huangpu District Government, but also geographically guarantees the school to occupy the financial advantageous location and to serve Shanghai International Financial Center and the Global Science and Technology Innovation Center based on FISF’s global financial vision. In the future, the academic research function area centered on Handan campus and the think tank and talent training function centered on the Bund campus, which will exert a two-way linkage effect. The two campuses will echo with each other, thus better satisfying the demand of the real economy.

The launch ceremony of Bund Campus held on January 14th received strong support of all parties. Mrs. Jiao Yang (Party Secretary of Fudan University), Mr. Lu Zhiqiang (Chairman of China Oceanwide Holdings Group), Mr. Gao Yun (Secretary of Shanghai Huangpu District Party Secretary and head of the Huangpu District government) and Professor Wei Shangjin (Academic Visiting Professor of Finance and Economics of FISF) attended the ceremony and delivered speeches. Professor Qian Jun, Executive Dean of FISF, presided over the whole process.

The participants also included the Deputy Secretary-General of the Shanghai Municipal Government, the Director of Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Party Secretary Mr. Tang Zhiping, the Standing Committee of Huangpu District Party Committee, the Deputy Head Mr. Chen Zhuofu, the member of the Huangpu District Government Party Committee, the Deputy Inspector Mr. Jiang Xizhou, the Director of the Research Department of the Shanghai Financial Office Mr. Tao Changsheng, Party Secretary and Director of the Financial Services Office of the Huangpu District, Mr. Zhu Lixin, Assistant Director of Fudan University, Professor Chen Zhimin, and Party Secretary of FISF, Professor Chen Shiyi etc.

"Today we have officially launched the Huangpu Bund campus here, marking that the building of Fanhai International School of Finance at Fudan University has entered a new stage. With the guidance of the Ministry of Education and Shanghai Municipality, we will further strengthen the in-depth cooperation with the Huangpu District Party Committee and Government and Oceanwide Holdings, aim at achieving the three goals of "first-class undergraduate school, first-class programs, and first-rate talents," and strive to build Fanhai International School of Finance as a first-class school of socialism with Chinese characteristics as soon as possible," said Jiao Yang, Secretary of the Party Committee of Fudan University, in her speech.

"As a new and international finance school, Fanhai International School of Finance at Fudan University will stay true to its founding mission and leverage its own unique advantages, so as to provide more professional and valuable guarantee for China's economic transformation and upgrading, under the guidance of the country's macroeconomic policies, under the support of Huangpu District and Fudan University, and under the efforts of all teachers and students," said Mr. Lu Zhiqiang, Chairman of Oceanwide Holdings, in his speech, "As a private enterprise that adapts to China's reform and opening up, Oceanwide Holdings has the opportunity to participate in the establishment of Fanhai International School of Finance at Fudan University. This is an honor of us and me, as an alumnus of Fudan University. This will continue to spur us to grow our company well and constantly create value for the society and the country."

Gao Yun, Secretary of Huangpu District Committee and District Governor, said, "Fanhai International School of Finance at Fudan University is located on the Bund. It is a specific endeavor of Huangpu District, Fudan University and Oceanwide Holdings to jointly implement the gist of the 19th National Congress of the CPC, and realize the connotative development of higher education. It is also an important move to explore the cooperation among the government, the university and the enterprise in running a school and serve Shanghai as the role for an international financial center. Huangpu District will give full play to its own advantages in the financial ecology and government services that it has fostered in the Bund, comprehensively deepen cooperation with Fudan University and Oceanwide Holdings, and provide stronger talent guarantee and support for the building of Shanghai into an international financial center."

Professor Wei Shangjin, Academic Visiting Professor of Finance and Economics of Fanhai International School of Finance at Fudan University, also stated in his speech that the official opening of the Huangpu Bund campus has provided the school with a chance to develop by leaps and bounds. He also mentioned, "On the Huangpu Bund campus, the school will be the first to launch top management education programs after the Spring Festival. In early September, the campus will see the arrival of the first masters in finance, and financial MBA. Financial EMBA, financial DBA, PhD, master-doctor, undergraduate and dual-degree programs will also be launched in the near future." He believed that through the recruitment and training of first-class faculties, and with the tripartite support of the university, the company and Huangpu District government, the school will make good use of the hardware advantages of the Huangpu Bund campus, and the school's teachers and students will make more contributions to the development of international finance.

The “Financial Innovation and Transformation and Upgrading of the Real Estate Industry” forum was held after the launch ceremony. Professor Zhang Chunxin, Deputy Dean of Academics of FISF, delivered a speech and Professor Deng Yongheng of FISF of Wisconsin School of business, hosted the forum. Chairman and General Manager of Gemdale RE East China, Mr. Yang Kan, Executive Vice President of Greenland Holdings Group Co., Ltd., Mr. Geng Jing, Executive Director of Bluetown Real Estate Construction Management Group Co., Ltd., Mr. Fu Linjiang, Executive Director and President of Everbright Financial Holding Asset Management Co., Ltd., Mr. Wang Weifeng and Executive Director of China Real Estate Data Acadamy, Mr. Chen Sheng, successively delivered speeches on topics such as the real estate finance and transformation and upgrading of it, and had a roundtable discussion.

In his speech, Professor Zhang Xinchun suggested that profound changes are taking place in China’s real estate industry. The fluctuation of real estate market will be ”the new normal” in the long term and the price action of the real estate industry will switch from rapid growth to a slow and volatile upward trend, due to which the profit of real estate companies will increase more slowly. In such a market environment, the real estate industry has entered a stage of integration and optimization, and entered an era of “large asset management”. However, whether real estate financial institutions can effectively utilize various financial resources and develop new and effective business models and product innovations will decide the core competencies of their companies. After today’s communication, active exploration and deep thoughts at the forum will definitely be of great benefit to us.

Mr. Yang Kan shared his views on “financial innovation and transformation and upgrading in the Stock Era”. He believed that due to the increasing difficulty in obtaining land, more and more funds are spent while the supply of new land in the city is declining, which, in the next 5 years, will make the growth of the real estate industry mostly dependent on the integration of the industries. Because the most urgent need is to integrate the financial industry, the financial asset management capabilities should be fully utilized and then combined with the existing financing capabilities of the real estate industry to extend the boundaries of industry development.

The supply and demand in the real estate market has changed, said Mr. Geng Jing. In his opinion, housing prices in first-tier cities have almost peaked and the rise in housing prices in the third- and fourth-tier cities is just a back light. The entire real estate industry will undergo tremendous changes in the next 3 to 5 years. The overall profiting mode will be greatly changed: from development and sales to posessing and operating, and from creating space to creating contents.

Mr. Fu Linjiang pointed out that the central government had stated that the house is for habitation rather than speculation. Consequently, instead of mere property development, the living elements should be taken as the main consideration in the process of positioning products. The traditional thinking mode, which crudely focuses on creating and selling space, is of huge risk. Now, what to be created and sold is lifestyle.

From the perspective of manpower, according to Mr. Wang Weifeng, the labor force was surplus in the past. However, nowadays every enterprise experiences lack of high-end talents. Human capital is urgently needed. From the perspective of innovation, a few years ago our innovation was imitative, and now it becomes “destructive”: Elements resources break the boundaries of the industries, so the real estate industry must integrate the elements resources. These are the huge changes and challenges facing the whole industry today.

Mr. Chen Sheng believed that the regulations of the large cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen will be long-term and normalized. At least one-third of the land in the three cities will be supplied for rental housing in the future. Therefore, it can be quite tough for the large-scale cities to develop without studying the stock market. Housing enterprises must think about their strategies of urban renewal and characteristic towns. The former includes the transformation of “urban villages”, the revitalization of inefficient industrial land etc. while the latter still focuses on the industry. If there is no industry, the strategy will make no sense.

In the roundtable discussion session, the guests also made in-depth exploration with the audience on topics such as “Whether it is suitable for Real Estate Investment Trusts currently”, “When the light asset securitization will be realized” and “How the real estate industry will undergo industrial transformation”.

In this forum, the Executive Education Program of FISF announced its first high-end course, “Chinese Enterprises’ Globalization • M&A Course”, which is designed to lead participants to further systematically study strategies, evaluation, investment and financing, negotiation and post-management frameworks and tools to build strong trading strategies, reduce business risks and costs, improve business performance, and thus help companies gain competitive advantage to optimize their global business distribution and achieve corporate development strategy goals. In the middle of this year, the Executive Education Program will also launch the “real estate finance practical course”. Alumni and entrepreneurs are welcome to return to school and start a new learning period at FISF.