Shanghai, June 30, 2026 – Inaugural CEIBS-APS Centre for Financial Markets Academic Conference was successfully held at the Shanghai campus of China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). Hosted by the CEIBS-APS Centre for Financial Markets (hereinafter referred to as "the Centre"), the conference brought together leading experts from global financial academia, market practice, and policy research to engage in in-depth discussions on the institutional characteristics of China’s capital markets and frontier issues in global asset pricing.

The conference opened with a welcome address by Professor Zhu Tian, Vice President and Co-Dean, and Santander Chair in Economics at CEIBS, and Co-Chair of the CEIBS-APS Centre for Financial Markets.

Professor Zhu Tian, Vice President and Co-Dean, and Santander Chair in Economics at CEIBS, and Co-Chair of the CEIBS-APS Centre for Financial Markets.

Professor Zhu observed that the global financial landscape is undergoing profound transformation, with China’s financial markets assuming increasing significance in the global system. With a foundation in CEIBS’s world-class research and teaching capabilities and enriched by APS Asset Management’s decades of practical experience in Asian markets, the Centre strives to conduct rigorous academic research and deliver insights that are both intellectually sound and directly applicable to investment decisions. He emphasized that studying China’s financial markets cannot be divorced from its unique institutional environment, nor can it rely on generic theories alone. Rather, China’s distinctive features must be examined from a global comparative perspective. Issues should be identified through dialogue, and understanding should be deepened through comparative analysis. “Without global breadth, China depth has no foundation. Without China depth, global breadth loses its anchor.” Only through such two‑way interaction can truly explanatory and forward‑looking outcomes of the highest quality be produced, he concludes.

The morning session focused on three fundamental propositions of China’s capital markets: the unique relationship between Chinese equity prices and economic fundamentals; the role of real estate in both capital markets and public finance; and the interaction between industrial policy and equity capital allocation. The afternoon session explored three frontier research streams in global asset pricing: how investors price macroeconomic risk across different phases of the economic cycle; the behavioral biases that drive predictable pricing anomalies; and the use of large language models to more rigorously quantify investment uncertainty.

The six papers presented systematically bridged China’s institutional context and the international academic frontier, collectively highlighting the contributions of local market characteristics to global asset pricing frameworks. The findings demonstrate that the volatility patterns of Chinese equities, the dual fiscal-financial logic of real estate, and the distinctive transmission channels from industrial policy to asset prices are not deviations from established theories, but rather valuable enrichments and contextual validations of global asset pricing models. Concurrently, the micro foundations of macroeconomic risk pricing based on behavioral finance, the identification and testing of anomaly factors, and the application of large language models in financial text data mining offer new empirical methodologies for quantifying the efficiency frontier of China’s capital markets. These studies provide theoretical entry points rooted in Chinese practice for finance scholarship, while equipping market participants with actionable analytical frameworks for optimizing asset allocation and identifying systemic risks in complex macro environments, and offering regulatory bodies tools to refine institutional rules and prevent abnormal market fluctuations.

CEIBS-APS Prize for Best Paper in Financial Markets

The conference presented the “CEIBS-APS Prize for Best Paper in Financial Markets”. Submissions underwent a rigorous double review process: academic reviewers assessed theoretical rigor and literature contribution, while an industry panel evaluated practical relevance, applicability, and implications for financial markets. The award was ultimately conferred on the paper Macro Risk Premia and the Business Cycle, coauthored by Professor Su Zhiwei of Lingnan University and Professor Yu Jianfeng of Tsinghua University.

Mr. Wong Kok Hoi, Founder, Executive Chairman & Chief Strategist of APS Asset Management, and Co Chair of the CEIBS-APS Centre for Financial Markets

At the subsequent award ceremony, Mr. Wong Kok Hoi, Founder, Executive Chairman & Chief Strategist of APS Asset Management, and Co Chair of the CEIBS-APS Centre for Financial Markets, presented the award to Professor Su and delivered remarks. He noted that APS Asset Management has always adhered to a research driven investment philosophy, maintaining a long term commitment to supporting cutting edge academic exploration. He himself holds a deep passion for academic research and has consistently sought to bridge the gap between market practice and scholarly theory. He believes that only by testing theories in real trading and institutional settings can genuinely valuable insights emerge. He encouraged scholars to continue their meticulous work at the intersection of rigorous theory and market logic, consistently producing high quality outcomes that offer both explanatory power and practical guidance, thereby advancing the study of China’s financial markets to higher levels.

Prof. Wang Renxuan, Director of the CEIBS-APS Centre for Financial Markets and Assistant Professor of Finance at CEIBS, delivered the closing remarks. He expressed his sincere appreciation to all speakers and discussants, commending the conference outcomes for their dual strengths in scholarly depth and practical applicability. He further indicated that the Centre would regard this conference as its launching pad, broadening research perspectives, consolidating premier resources, and striving for continued expansion in topic coverage, cooperation networks, and global footprint. The Centre is committed to becoming an internationally influential institution for China-focused financial market research, fostering a virtuous cycle between academic excellence and decision-useful insights.

Group Photo

The successful convening of this conference marks a further maturation of the Centre's development philosophy, which equally values academic rigor and practical relevance, and it also bolsters the Centre's confidence in moving forward. 

Looking ahead, the CEIBS-APS Centre for Financial Markets will continue to uphold its vision of "China Depth Global Breadth," maintain its focus on the effective alignment between the underlying logic of China's capital markets and the global pricing system, and build a bridge for two way exchange of financial knowledge between China and the world through research outcomes that combine scholarly rigor with real world impact. The Centre will steadily promote the theoretical articulation of domestic issues in international academic discourse and actively explore viable pathways for applying international methodologies to China's financial reform practices. In doing so, it will contribute both academically profound and practically valuable theoretical support and decision ready insights for the high quality development and high level opening up of China's financial markets.