China's financial market will provide more opportunities for investors worldwide, according to experts at the Spring Membership Meeting of the Institute of International Finance, Inc. (IIF), which was held in Shanghai Friday.

China's fiscal incentive and monetary policies have been having effects, which will help the economy to grow fast and steadily, said Josef Ackermann, chairman of the board of the IIF.

Foreign direct investment continues to flow into China at an extraordinary pace and this has been joined by rising levels of international portfolio equity investments, due in part to improvements in corporate governance in China, according to a new IIF report.

China is the most important market for the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) and the branches in Chinese mainland raked in profits of 320 million yuan (about US$38 million) in 2003, double the figure in the previous year, said HSBC Chairman David Eldon.

The HSBC has set up 20 branches in the Chinese mainland with 4,000 staff and plans to add more investment, Eldon said.

IIF is the world's only global association of financial institutions and was created in 1983 in response to the international debt crisis. Its members include most of the world's largest commercial banks and investment banks, as well as a growing number of insurance companies and investment management firms.
 
(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2004)