A giant billboard promoting the Annual Conference of Financial Street Forum 2026 is seen on a building in Beijing on October 22, 2026. Photo: Yin Yeping/GT

China's innovation-driven economy is creating new opportunities for global investors, with financial opening-up playing a key role in connecting international capital with the country's emerging growth engines, Iqbal Khan, president of UBS Asia Pacific and co-president of UBS Global Wealth Management, said at the Annual Conference of Financial Street Forum 2026 in Beijing on Thursday.

"China certainly has the potential to be one important destination. Its distinctive strength lies in turning innovation into application, and application into scale. It is where technological ambition meets industrial depth," Khan said.

The UBS sub-forum, themed "Global Capital, Open Innovation: Creating Growth and Lasting Impact," was held on Thursday morning. It marked the second consecutive year that UBS had independently hosted a sub-forum during the annual conference. Khan said UBS was the only foreign financial institution independently hosting a sub-forum for the second year.

The event focused on how open and collaborative finance can support technological innovation, industrial upgrading and global connectivity as China enters its 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30). Discussions covered cross-border capital flows, investment in strategic emerging industries, Chinese enterprises' overseas expansion and the role of international financial institutions in supporting growth.

Citing the latest UBS Global Wealth Report 2026, Khan said global personal wealth grew by 10.8 percent in 2025, the fastest pace since 2017.

He also pointed to what he described as the largest wealth transfer in human history, with more than $83 trillion expected to change hands over the next 20 to 25 years.

He emphasized that openness is essential to realizing these opportunities, as it connects ideas, expertise and capital while making new growth opportunities accessible to global investors.

Iqbal Khan, president of UBS Asia Pacific and co-president of UBS Global Wealth Management Photo: Courtesy of the Annual Conference of Financial Street Forum 2026

"No single market can write the future of growth, but China is an important author," Khan said.

Turning to China's innovation economy, Khan highlighted technology, advanced manufacturing and globally competitive industries as areas gaining momentum, supported by strong energy and digital infrastructure, deep talent and a maturing financing ecosystem.

As these sectors expand, opportunities for long-term investors are widening across strategic emerging industries under China's 15th Five-Year Plan, he said.

Khan also highlighted going global as a defining investment theme, noting that China's export mix is upgrading, with better quality, higher unit values and a stronger product mix.

Khan said the transition from intelligence to industry is already underway, playing to China's strengths in engineering talent, manufacturing capabilities, large-scale application environments and an active open-source ecosystem.

As competition increasingly shifts toward returns on investment and real-world impact, the engineering and cost advantages of Chinese companies are attracting growing attention from industry leaders and investors around the world, he said.

For investors, Khan noted that opportunities extend beyond AI models themselves to semiconductors, data centers, power equipment, software services and industry-specific solutions.

Beyond technological innovation, Khan emphasized the importance of financial opening-up in attracting international capital, noting that innovation needs market access, clear rules and trusted cross-border channels.

Over the past decade, China has developed increasingly sophisticated channels connecting domestic opportunities with global capital, along with a broader framework allowing international investors to participate more deeply in the country's growth, he said.

He said UBS currently manages more than $1 trillion in invested assets across the Asia-Pacific region, while China has become an important consideration for wealth management clients seeking long-term growth and greater portfolio diversification.

Khan also highlighted UBS' inaugural panda bond issuance at the end of August as an example of China's financial opening-up. The issuance connected an international issuer with China's deep domestic capital markets while supporting the continued internationalization of the renminbi, he said.

UBS has maintained a strong presence in the Chinese mainland market for more than 35 years, with sustained investment in capital, technology, talent and risk management reflecting its long-term commitment to the market.

Khan said: "China is advancing new drivers of growth. Openness makes them investable. And long-term capital turns their potential into lasting impact."

Global Times