GEG50 Closed-Door Seminar | AI+ Era: Financial Restructuring and Development

On December 26, the Global Economic Governance 50 Forum (GEG50) held a closed-door seminar titled “AI+ Era: Financial Restructuring and Development.” The event featured keynote speeches by Jianhua ZHANG, Director of the Center for Financial Development and Regulatory Technology at Tsinghua University PBC School of Finance; Ke TANG, Professor at the Institute of Economics, School of Social Sciences at Tsinghua University and Dean of Zhishan College; Dayong HE, Managing Director and Global Senior Partner at Boston Consulting Group; and Weidong CHEN, President of the Bank of China Research Institute. Other attendees included GEG50 members and alumni representatives including Ke GONG, Executive Dean of the China Institute for New Generation AI Development Strategy; Xian WANG, Vice Chair of the National Institute of Financial Research at Tsinghua University and Director of the Listed Company Research Center at Tsinghua PBC School of Finance; and Jiefeng LI, Chairman of Czech JKL Investment Co., Ltd.. The seminar was chaired by Min ZHU, Founder of GEG50, former IMF Deputy Managing Director, and former Deputy Governor of the People’s Bank of China. In his opening remarks, Jie JIAO, Dean of Tsinghua University PBC School of Finance, emphasized that artificial intelligence is deeply penetrating the financial sector, and the integration of “AI+Finance” is a practical choice to address global economic governance transformation. He noted that the PBCSF is striving to build research centers for financial technology and technology finance, establish financial infrastructure systems, and create a new ecosystem for innovation-driven finance.

Photo: Min ZHU and Jie JIAO

During the keynote session, Jianhua analyzed the impact of AI on the financial system and business operations, outlined application scenarios of AI in finance, particularly its role in the “Five Major Areas” of financial practice, and highlighted obstacles, potential risks, and regulatory trends in AI adoption. Ke shared insights from three of his research papers, discussing nonlinear financial models, integration of traditional theoretical models with LLMs, prompt engineering, and privacy protection, while stressing the importance of non-state capital in AI investment. Dayong proposed that AI’s impact on finance follows two core paths: incremental and disruptive. He analyzed industry attitudes and application scenarios for both paths and recommended that banks establish robust LLMs gateways while strengthening collaboration between business and technology departments. Weidong elaborated on AI’s value in finance from three dimensions—business restructuring, technological restructuring, and ecosystem restructuring, while analyzing potential risks and noting that financial ecosystems are shaped not only by technology but also by institutional frameworks.

Photo: From left to right— Jianhua ZHANG, Ke TANG, Dayong HE, Weidong CHEN speaking

In the discussion session, Ke GONG reviewed emerging trends in AI development, including Mixture of Experts, multi-agent systems, embodied intelligence, open-source models, and green development, while pointing out underlying theoretical issues and risk concerns. Xian argued that the licensing regulatory nature of the financial industry makes it difficult for AI to deliver disruptive shocks, though technological iterations will still drive new rules and competition. Subsequently, Weidong, Dayong, Jianhua, and other participants engaged in in-depth discussions on topics such as improving regulatory frameworks, balancing privacy protection with technological progress, and the competitive landscape of China’s financial sector, particularly banking. In his closing remarks, Min ZHU stated that the financial sector is the best entry point for “AI+” integration. He emphasized the need to uphold the bottom line of financial regulation and institutional integrity while staying at the forefront of AI technology development, seeking an optimal balance between these two priorities.

Photo: Closed-door seminar venue

This seminar was hosted by the GEG50 and organized by Tsinghua University PBC School of Finance.