Zhiwu Chen
Prof. Zhiwu CHEN
金融学
Chair Professor of Finance
Cheng Yu-Tung Professor in Finance
Director, Centre for Quantitative History
Director, Hong Kong Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences
HKU Council Member

3910 3079 / 3917 1271

KK 1338

Publications
China after the property boom: can it rebuild the growth model?

“The 60 reforms would have largely expanded the role of consumption and private initiatives,” says Chen Zhiwu, a professor in Chinese finance and economy at the University of Hong Kong. “However, the market-oriented reform agenda has been largely sidelined . . . resulting in a larger role for the state and a shrunken role for the private sector.”

Fortress China: Xi Jinping’s plan for economic independence

Chen Zhiwu, a professor of finance at the University of Hong Kong, says Chinese leaders understand military conflicts may be “hard to avoid” if Beijing wants to unify Taiwan with the mainland. “The comprehensive economic sanctions against Russia after its invasion of Ukraine have only added urgency to [China] achieving self-sufficiency in technology, finance, food and energy,” Chen adds. “Self-sufficiency as a phrase has regained currency in the party’s publications.”

China Banks May Face $350 Billion in Losses From Property Crisis

“Banks are caught in the middle,” , “If they don’t help the developers finish the projects, they would end up losing much more. If they do, that of course would make the government happy, but they add more to their exposure to delayed real estate projects.” — Professor Zhiwu Chen, Chair Professor of Finance

So long, Soho?

“After the failed Blackstone transaction, they clearly knew that more things would come. It was only a matter of time.” — Professor Zhiwu Chen, Chair Professor of Finance

【凤凰秀‧问答神州 】专访 香港大学香港人文社会研究所所长陈志武

港大经管学院金融学讲座教授及郑裕彤基金教授(金融学)陈志武教授接受凤凰秀专访。今年3月,陈教授出版新书《文明的逻辑》中,他提出,通常「生产力」被用作评判人类进步的标准,但他提出,用「人类风险应对能力」这一个指标,分析人类文明的发展。未来的世界可能面临哪些风险?全球通胀、俄鸟冲突、能源危机……乱局之下,今年下半年或明年,会有一场「风暴」来袭吗?

Banking on the Confucian Clan: Why China Developed Financial Markets So Late

Over the past millennium, China has relied on the Confucian clan to achieve interpersonal cooperation, focusing on kinship and neglecting the development of impersonal institutions needed for external finance. In this paper, we test the hypothesis that the Confucian clan and financial markets are competing substitutes. Using the large cross-regional variation in the adoption of modern banks, we find that regions with historically stronger Confucian clans established significantly fewer modern banks in the four decades following the founding of China's first modern bank in 1897. Our evidence also shows that the clan continues to limit China's financial development today.

China’s Financial Foil

China’s desire to escape the shadow of the U.S. dollar and build an alternative infrastructure for global finance is being stymied by one major factor: Its reluctance to loosen the shackles around its own currency. By creating the Cross-Border Interbank Payment System, or CIPS, back in 2015, the Chinese financial authorities had hoped to provide a way for companies and individuals to keep money flowing internationally — even if China were ever to come under the same kind of economic pressure Western countries are currently meting out to Russia, following its invasion of Ukraine. The problem is that CIPS has neither the scope nor the technical capability to match its Western counterpart — the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), often described as the Gmail of the global banking system.

Why China’s Banks Won’t Come to Russia’s Rescue

The risk of additional sanctions deters Chinese lenders, while a fledgling payment network relies on the Swift global system

China’s Small Banks Set for Spotlight Over Russia Support

China’s smaller banks could come under greater scrutiny over financing to Russia as the nation’s biggest lenders are already showing signs of complying with U.S. and European sanctions in a bid to protect their large international footprints.