The McGraw-Hill Companies, a financial services, education, and business information, announced that Standard & Poor’s (S&P) is planning to establish a Greater China headquarters in Shanghai, underscoring the company’s commitment to supporting China’s growing capital markets, as well as Shanghai’s emergence as a leading global financial center. The company also plans to expand its existing teams in Hong Kong and Beijing to meet the growing needs of financial market participants in both internationally significant cities.
“As China’s largest city and one of the world’s leading financial centers, Shanghai has come to epitomize the country’s exceptional growth and leadership position in the international economic community,” says Harold McGraw III, chairman, president and chief executive officer of The McGraw-Hill Companies. “Shanghai is establishing itself as a global center for capital and commerce, and we are excited about the new opportunities Standard & Poor’s will have to help China continue to expand and strengthen its growing financial markets.”
To support the needs of its growing and increasingly diverse customer base in China, the initial plans for S&P’s Shanghai operations include:
becoming an analytical hub for S&P’s credit ratings business in Greater China,establishing dedicated teams to provide financial risk management solutions to both the private and public sectors,establishing a strong local sales and customer service organization to work more closely with its clients in mainland China, andcreating strong corporate functions, such as marketing, finance and human resources, to support the company’s business operations throughout the country.
Looking ahead, S&P also will look to draw on China’s rich talent base to provide data and analytical support for S&P’s businesses worldwide. Shanghai offers attractive outsourcing capabilities with a growing pool of multilingual financial professionals that can help S&P grow its regional and global businesses.
Standard & Poor’s has been doing business in China for more than 16 years – first issuing a sovereign credit rating on the People’s Republic of China in February 1992. Today, S&P provides credit ratings on industrial, banking and insurance companies in China, and recently signed a technical services agreement with local credit rating agency, Shanghai Brilliance, to share mutual knowledge and experience. Applying its deep credit management and public sector experience, S&P is also working with the World Bank to conduct financial management assessments (FMAs) and perform credit analysis on urban development and provincial investment groups in China to support public sector reform and fund raising.
In addition to its ratings business, S&P has been actively providing data, information and risk management tools to support the growth of China’s domestic financial markets. In 2004, S&P entered the domestic capital markets with the launch of local equity indices. In conjunction with our partner CITIC Securities, S&P launched a series of leading stock market indices including the S&P/CITIC 50, the S&P/CITIC 300, and the S&P/CITIC China 30 to enable investors to better access China’s rapid growth.
In 2007, S&P Risk Solutions expanded its presence in China to support top-tier Chinese banks develop risk management practices in preparation for Basel II requirements. Today, S&P Risk Solutions works with a range of financial institutions in China including smaller regional banks to help them better manage their risks as they prepare for domestic loan growth in line with the country’s fast-growing economic plans.
D.C.