zhou xiaochuan : rules for developing a financial center and the reform of the rmb exchange rate regime speech by mr zhou xiaochuan governor of the people ’ s bank of china, at the inauguration ceremony of the people ’ s bank of china shanghai head office, shanghai, 10 august 2005. * * * honorable general secretary chen, honorable mayor han, colleagues and friends from the financial industry dear guests, and ladies and gentlemen, first of all, i would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all the concern and support you have kindly rendered to the people ’ s bank of china over so many years, and i would also like to thank you for availing yourself from your busy schedule to attend the inauguration ceremony of the people ’ s bank of china shanghai head office. on today ’ s significant occasion, i wish to focus my remarks on two specific issues. the first issue explores the rules for developing a financial center, and the second issue aims to clarify questions concerning the reform of the rmb exchange rate regime. for the first issue, the answer is quite straightforward. the people ’ s bank of china shanghai head office is established for the purpose of strengthening functions of the central bank head office related to improving financial market operations and financial services. first, both international experiences and the chinese practices in the process of reform and opening up have well demonstrated that greater marketization of the economy could lead to increased crossregion economic activities, and consequently an improved integration and scale of the economy which calls for strengthening of the functions of the central bank head office in terms of market operation and provision of financial services. marketization and internationalization expose economic development undergo constant changes, leading to increased reliance of monetary policy conduct and transmission on the money market and foreign exchange market. the development of the financial market itself will also help to expand financial services to clients in different regions of the country and to cultivate a limited number of financial markets serving the whole nation and even the world, not segmented financial markets dotted across the country serving different regions. for the time being, shanghai has already become the harbor for some financial markets with national influence, such as the foreign exchange market, the gold market, securities market, futures market and the inter - bank bond market etc. however in the past when the centralized economic system was prevalent or in the early periods of reform when marketization was barely developed, financial organizations favored an institutional structure featuring “ parallel set - up of business departments at the subordinate and head office level ” which

nsl policy. to enforce and further improve the nsl policy is a target clearly specified at the sixth plenary session of the 16th cpc central committee and in this year ’ s government work report. in the light of nsl policies and measures, further development of local student loans is an important step for the enforcement and improvement of nsl, an important component to establish and strengthen financial support system to students with financial difficulties, and also reflects the trend and future path for development of student loan business. i hope the pbc lanzhou sub - branch can take it as a good opportunity to carry out the work of student loans, further strengthen communication and coordination with the educational and fiscal authorities, enhance research and investigation, sum up experience and lessons in time, improve continuously institutional building and risk prevention mechanisms, so as to establish step by step a systematic and complete policy system of local student loans, and explore a long - lasting system of local student loans, for the benefits of students and families with financial difficulties in gansu province. valuable theoretical explorations and practical experiences should be studied to help relevant government agencies design relevant policies aimed to promote local student loans in the whole country. as a final note, i wish a healthy development of the financial sector in gansu province and greater achievement of student loan work!