China Finance 40 Forum

The China Finance 40 Forum or CF40 is a Chinese think tank created in 2008 which specializes on issues of economic and financial policy. In January 2021, the University of Pennsylvania's Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program ranked CF40 as #8 top think tank in China, and #31 among think tanks in China, India, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

History and development


CF40 was created on 12 April 2008 as a club of 40 finance experts under 40 years of age, thus its name. It was founded and developed by Wang Haiming, previously a journalist and chief editor at 21st Century Business Herald. Chen Yuan is its founding chairman.

Based in Beijing, CF40 has also created the Shanghai Finance Institute (SFI) in Shanghai and the Northern Finance Institute (NFI) in Tianjin, in 2011 and 2016 respectively. Wang Haiming is Executive President of both institutes. Both are located in buildings with connections to China's financial history: SFI in the former Shanghai branch of Yien Yieh Commercial Bank, and NFI in the former Tianjin branch of the Franco-Chinese Bank.

CF40 organizes events and conferences, alone or in partnership with other think tanks that have included Bruegel the Euro 50 Group, and the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

One of CF40's flagship events is the yearly "Bund Summit" in Shanghai, a series that started in 2019. The 2020 Bund Summit was the venue for Jack Ma's speech on financial regulation in China which has been widely associated with the suspension of Ant Group's initial public offering.

CF40 publishes studies and a periodical journal, China Finance Review. Its yearly "Jingshan Report" is a reference publication on China's financial system.

CF40-affiliated experts
As of early 2021, CF40 advisers include Chen Yulu, Hu Huaibang, Hu Xiaolian, Huang Qifan, Jiang Chaoliang, Jiang Jianqing, Lin Yifu (Justin Lin), Qin Xiao, Wu Jinglian, Wu Xiaoling, Yi Gang, Yu Yongding, and Zhu Min.

Also as of early 2021, CF40's Academic Committee is chaired by Qian Yingyi and its members include Huang Yiping and Pan Gongsheng.

CF40's resident Senior Fellows include Guan Tao, and its nonresident Senior Fellows include Xiao Gang, Zhang Bin, and Zhang Xiaohui.