(Yicai) June 22 -- The cooperation between China and the United Kingdom has been deepening in recent years, with the financial cooperation now focusing on green finance and the offshore Chinese yuan, Christopher Hayward, chairman of the City of London's Policy and Resources Committee, told Yicai in an interview during the Lujiazui Forum.

The Lujiazui Forum 2026, themed 'Financial Development and Cooperation Under the Global Governance Initiative: New Vision, New Challenges, and New Opportunities,' was held in Shanghai from June 17 to 18. It was jointly hosted by the People's Bank of China, the National Financial Regulatory Administration, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and the Shanghai Municipal People's Government. ‌‌

Excerpts from the interview with Hayward are below:

Yicai: This year's Lujiazui Forum focuses on financial development and cooperation under the global governance initiative. What is your vision on the so-called 'New Vision, New Challenges, and New Opportunities?'

Hayward: The relationship between China and the UK is growing in strength. Over the past couple of years, we have been very keen to encourage China to open up, and, indeed, that is something which the vice premier said this morning in his speech. So we endorse that, and we welcome that.

From our own perspective as the City of London, we see two areas for particular cooperation. The first is around green finance. We have a UK-China Green Finance Working Party, which is interested in the issuance of green bonds on the London Stock Exchange. That's an area where I see China has some of the most innovative solutions to the climate challenge. That's very important for us.

The second area, of which I'm particularly proud, is the City of London's position as a leading offshore yuan hub outside China. We have continued to grow the volumes of the yuan trading in London. [...] London's strength comes from a combination of deep capital markets and global foreign exchange leadership and world-class legal and professional services. All these have made us a natural partner and a natural home of the internationalization of the yuan, and we want to do more with that.

Within a square mile of our financial district, we have over 50 Chinese financial institutions that offer some 3,500 jobs, and they're still growing.

Yicai: What targeted measures will the City of London take to further consolidate and upgrade the London offshore yuan business advantages, or will there be some new policies that we can expect in the near future?

Hayward: I think it's important that we continue with our yuan business monitoring group, which the City of London co-chairs with the PBOC Europe office, and that identifies the barriers and the practical challenges, market solutions that we want to reach. Our priorities are very clear on this. It's to deepen offshore yuan liquidity, strengthen the market infrastructure, as well as broaden institutional participation and expand the range of yuan-denominated products available in London.

You asked about particular opportunities in particular initiatives. I think that yuan-denominated green finance products are one where we see a real opportunity, particularly in the bond issuance and hedging solutions. So we will be pursuing those going forward.

Yicai: Last year, the UK government established a new office, the Office for Investment: Financial Services. What's the main target of the launch of this new office?

Hayward: This is one of the most exciting things that I've been involved in the past year with the government because it's aimed at trying to increase our market share of foreign direct investments. We have fallen behind competitively with other jurisdictions in recent years, and I was able to persuade the Chancellor of the Exchequer to set up what is a public-private partnership between the Treasury, regulators, industry, and ourselves to act as a concierge service to assist Chinese companies, indeed companies globally, who want to invest in the United Kingdom.

One of the challenges we find is that when they want to invest, we want to make it as easy as we can for them to invest, particularly around the regulatory side, so I chair the industry board of the Office for Investment: Financial Services, and the target is to try to get another 30 billion of FDI between now and 2030 into the United Kingdom. Now we have only launched this six months ago, so it's still very new. But it's a new vehicle which we hope will ultimately contribute to our economic growth program because that is what we are doing as a corporation, working with the government to try to drive faster on the agenda for economic growth.

Yicai: The Chinese government also encourages Chinese companies to go global and invest overseas, and London is a hot destination. So what specific services and supporters could the new office provide for the Chinese investors and financial institutions who want to expand their business in London?

Hayward: What we do is we provide a coordinated point of entry for the Chinese financial companies that are interested. We help firms navigate both regulatory and governmental processes more effectively, more smoothly, and more quickly. And we also help to connect investors with the relevant parts of the UK's financial and professional services ecosystem and identify opportunities for growth and expansion.

We'll soon welcome HSBC back to the city from Canary Wharf. That's a move. So the City of London is going through a renaissance period, our jobs are up 25 percent since Covid, and we are attracting more and more global businesses to London. In a particularly challenging geopolitical world, London is seen as a relatively safe haven for investors.

Editor: Futura Costaglione