China's Financial Markets: An Insider's Guide to How the Markets Work

by Salih N. Neftci (Editor), Michelle Yuan Menager-Xu (Editor)

China’s financial markets represent about $2 trillion and are expected to grow to about $10 trillion by 2008. As these markets continue to open to outside investment, a thorough understanding of how they operate will be essential for success. In this book, Salih Neftci, an expert in finance whose teaching and research span North America, Europe and Asia, and Michelle Menager-Xu, a Chinese finance professional currently working in Geneva, bring together an unprecedented collection of Chinese insiders who are experts in their respective industries. These experts provide a detailed description of the banking system, the money, equity, futures, FX, and bond markets, the insurance sector, the mortgage market and mortgage instruments, and the regulators. Readers will learn how each of these financial sectors operates, how the government, regulators, and the central bank are involved, each sector’s history, size and projected growth, an analysis of its current situation and discussion of future trends, the major players, and how the game is played. This is a must-read book for financial success in this emerging market.

416 pages, Hardcover

First published November 21, 2006

Reviews

[Dewey Norton · Rating 2 out of 5]

An analysis of their status in 2005 written by experts on each market. At times this was like reading an FASB pronouncement, unless relevant to a pressing issue, a good aid in getting to sleep. Nevertheless it is a vivid portrait of efforts to create efficient capital markets using western concepts within the framework of a tightly centralized government. Since the end of the cultural revolution, people in China have begun to realize the freedom to analyze and propose alternatives in many areas, as long they do not run afoul of the power of the Communist Party, a big exclusion but nevertheless a lot more freedom than I had expected.

The scale of financial markets in China is rather small compared to the U.S. and Europe, but the growth is exponential, hence the need for new concepts as these markets evolve.