Goldman Sachs president urges market reforms to boost Shanghai as financial hub

Goldman Sachs president John Waldron has called on China to loosen foreign exchange rules, ease cross-border data restrictions and improve regulatory transparency as the country’s policymakers seek to strengthen Shanghai’s role as an international financial centre.

Waldron, also the investment bank’s chief operating officer and widely seen as a front runner to succeed its current CEO David Solomon, expressed confidence in the city’s potential at an annual meeting of international business leaders advising the Shanghai government.

“Shanghai has an enormous opportunity to become a leading global capital market centre,” Waldron said at the 38th International Business Leaders’ Advisory Council meeting on Sunday.

“Transparency, predictability and consistency are the three most important things that generate confidence in global investors … to allocate capital to this marketplace versus other global opportunities.”