The Citibank Group has donated 1.2 million USD to Tsinghua SEM to set up the Tsinghua-Citi Financial Education Hub. The program, which runs for three years will mainly focus on research concerning Chinese consumers' financial behavior and relevant financial trends and issues.

(Vice President of Tsinghua University Professor Xie Weihe andCEO of Citibank ChinaOu Zhaolun)

Vice President of Tsinghua University Professor Xie Weihe attended the launching ceremony held on October 27, 2008 and addressed the session. Professor Xie Weihe said Tsinghua University has been committed to spreading academic knowledge to people outside Tsinghua and providing its latest academic research outputs and relevant advices to policy-makers. And the current Tsinghua-Citi program will contribute to Tsinghua's efforts in spreading knowledge, especially about finance to the society.

Professor Liao Li, Associate Dean of Tsinghua SEM introduced the program to the media after the launching ceremony. According to Professor Liao, the Tsinghua-Citi Program will promote financial education targeting at consumers with a focus on the Chinese financial system. It will carry out surveys on consumers annually, host annual seminars, organize training classes for reporters and teachers in finance and organize on-line lectures.

(Professor Xie Weihe, Vice President of Tsinghua University addressed on the launching ceremony)

The Annual Tsinghua-Citi Consumers Survey will select 2000 families with various ethnic groups, economic status, and regional backgrounds. The survey will cover research on financial knowledge, financial service, financial education as well as personal investing behavior. The outcome of the survey will be released by a series of academic reports and papers.

Ou Zhaolun, CEO of Citibank China said he was delighted to see the partnership between Citigroup and Tsinghua in launching such an important program. He hopes the program will contribute to the research on Chinese consumers’ financial behavior meanwhile enhancing the awareness of the consumers, financial media, and academic community on the importance of the financial education.