S&P held a major conference in Beijing, China on Thursday, July 29th focusing on the theme, The Future of Global Finance: Opportunities and Challenges in a Growing China.

BEIJING, August 06,2010 —How has the global economic landscape changed in the wake of the financial crisis? How can governments and businesses around the world work together to lay the foundation for a stronger and more sustainable financial system? And what lessons can countries draw from the remarkable rise of the world's fastest-growing major economy China?

Those were just some of the questions that Standard & Poor's addressed in a forum entitled The Future of Global Finance: Opportunities and Challenges in a Growing China on July 29 in Beijing. S&P partnered with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Finance and Banking to sponsor the event as part of the company's year-long 150th anniversary commemoration.

(in order from left to right) Terry McGraw with keynote speakers Wu Xiaoling and Wang Zhaoxing and Li Yang, Vice President, Chinese Academy of Social Science.

The result was an impressive lineup of speakers ranging from government and business leaders to academic scholars. Keynote speakers at the event included Wu Xialong, vice chairman, of The National People's Congress Financial and Economic Committee and Wang Zhaoxing, vice chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission.

From left to right, speaking at the conference in Beijing: Jon Huntsman, U.S. ambassador to China; Wang Zhaoxing, vice chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission; Wu Xiaoling, member and vice chairperson, the Financial and Economic Committee, The National People's Congress; and Li Yang, vice president, Chinese Academy of Social Science.

McGraw-Hill Chairman, President and CEO Harold McGraw III delivered opening remarks. "We have seen China's economy grow dramatically in the more than two decades since McGraw-Hill first entered country," Mr. McGraw said. Today the country is transforming into a more service-based knowledge economy. And as a company at the crossroads of education and financial services, McGraw-Hill has an important role to play in supporting this transformation.

S&P president Deven Sharma closed the event by reminding attendees that S&P remains committed to "three principles that support sound, sustainable capital markets: transparency, consistency and accountability."

Deven Sharma delivers remarks in Beijing, China.