Henry Fernandez, chairman and CEO of MSCI, gives the thumbs-up to Shanghai's financial environment, during his talk with Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng on Sept 3. [Photo/WeChat account: scofcom]

Gong Zheng, mayor of Shanghai city in East China, held positive video discussions with Henry Fernandez, chairman and chief executive officer of MSCI, on Sept 3.

MSCI is a global provider of equities, fixed income and hedge fund stock market indexes, multi-asset portfolio analysis tools and environment, social and governance or ESG products. It set up a branch in Shanghai in 2005 and then launched China-themed index products successively.

Mayor Gong said that Shanghai had recently released its financial development plan for the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25).

This envisioned the city evolving into a strategic link between domestic and international markets, against a backdrop of the country's implementation of its "dual circulation" development paradigm – China's strategy, introduced last year, where domestic markets are the main driver of growth supported by international trade.

Gong added that in the plan Shanghai provided a bigger stage for the development of financial institutions, including MSCI.

The city leader expressed his hope that MSCI would continue to increase its weighting of China's A-shares – which can be bought by foreign investors – in the MSCI index. He also hoped it would participate in the development of Shanghai as a global asset management center, a fintech center and a green financial hub, as well as expand its ventures in the city.

For his part, Fernandez spoke highly of Shanghai's financial environment and said that MSCI would continue to further deepen its cooperation with the city, in terms of the capital market's opening-up, as well as in fintech and in green finance.