The FT reported that China’s central bank has argued for loosening its capital controls in a landmark report: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/bd948148-5dfd-11e1-8c87-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1nDRQgZ00
Such a move if it were to happen would be a giant boon to the U.S. financial sector for the following reasons:
-It could create the potential for a whole new set of derivative products.
-It would provide more investment opportunities and banking opportunities to financial firms.
-It could increase commissions exponentially by the tsunami of transaction volume.
Naturally they have been salivating about such an opportunity for a while now and have mounted PR campaigns and other methods to push China in this direction such as the letter to Xi Jingping: http://www.businessinsider.com/wall-streets-love-letter-china-president-2012-2 . I suspect that the chances of the recommendations being adopted will be high after China’s leadership transition since many of the new contenders for leadership have backgrounds in finance, law, and entrepreneurship who are more sympathetic to the U.S. economic model. What this will mean for other sectors other than finance will be a different story.
