On June 3, 2026, the Cloud & Digital Intelligence Power 2026 Digital & Intelligent Finance Forum, co-hosted by the International Institute of Finance and Digital China Information Service Co., Ltd., was held in Hefei. Under the theme AI Empowers · Value Reshaping, the forum brought together over 400 senior representatives from local governments, universities, academic experts, state-owned commercial banks, joint-stock commercial banks, provincial rural credit unions, urban commercial banks and leading technology enterprises. Centered on industry transformation driven by large AI models, attendees shared proven practical experience and held in-depth discussions on core topics: opportunities and challenges of AI adoption in finance, large-scale deployment of AI agents, formulation of AI financial standards, ontology-enabled financial decision-making, quantum finance applications, and digital-intelligent transformation breakthroughs for banks.

At the opening ceremony, Zhou Congzhao and Li Hongchun, Co-Chairman of Digital China, delivered speeches respectively.

In his address, Zhou Congzhao noted that the International Institute of Finance and Digital China have leveraged their respective interdisciplinary strengths and fintech experience to build a government-industry-university-research collaborative platform, eliminating barriers between cutting-edge technologies, real-world scenarios and industrial demands.

He put forward an initiative for the industry: as key participants linking academia and industry, all market players should align with national strategies to demonstrate the value of digital and intelligent finance in serving the real economy; deepen joint research between universities, financial institutions and tech firms to translate research findings into scalable industrial applications; balance technological innovation and risk control to jointly build a trusted, controllable digital-intelligent financial ecosystem. Drawing on its disciplinary resources, the International Institute of Finance will further advance open collaboration, co-establish high-caliber innovation platforms, cultivate interdisciplinary financial talents, and contribute expertise to the high-quality development of the financial sector.

Based on the current state of industrial development, Li Hongchun outlined the shift of the financial industry from digitalization to AI-native digital intelligence, and clarified the development path of realizing inherent business intelligence through AI agent deployment. He elaborated on the company’s future layout from the dimensions of ecological co-construction, scenario implementation and technological research, and expressed willingness to deepen long-term university-industry strategic cooperation with the International Institute of Finance.

During the keynote session, experts from financial and technology sectors shared forward-looking insights and strategic judgments on the paradigm shift toward AI-native finance, delivering actionable implementation roadmaps for the digital-intelligent upgrading of financial institutions.

A lineup of speakers delivered speeches combining their professional experience and industrial cases: Lü Zhongtao, Former Chief Technology Officer of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China; Gao Feng, Former Chief Information Officer of China Banking Association and Distinguished Senior Expert of China Financial Media; Wang Yong, Chief Information Officer of Huishang Bank; Wang Zhehui, General Manager of Shanghai QuantumCTek; Sun Zhongdong, Chief Consultant for Banking Digital Transformation at Digital China; Rao Zhengguang, R&D President of Huawei Financial Core Business Group. They discussed practical, theoretically sound solutions covering enterprise-wide AI system development, transformation paths for small and medium-sized banks, AI agent-powered banking, integrated innovation of quantum computing and AI, implementation logic of financial ontology, and computing infrastructure construction.

In addition, senior officials from dozens of financial institutions, industry associations and tech enterprises attended the forum for exchanges to explore new ideas for financial digital-intelligent transformation, including the Export-Import Bank of China, ICBC, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of Communications, Postal Savings Bank of China, China Everbright Bank, Minsheng Bank, Industrial Bank, SPD Bank, Huishang Bank, Hangzhou Bank, Anhui Rural Credit Union, Anhui Digital Fintech Association and Tongshun Co., Ltd.

The forum featured a series of auxiliary events including the launch of joint AI innovation achievements and product solutions, thematic seminars, closed-door roundtables and workshops. At the special achievement launch session, the International Institute of Finance, together with Digital China, multiple commercial banks and top tech ecological partners, released a suite of co-developed AI innovations and flagship AI agent products: joint development of a new-generation core AI system, an intelligent marketing assistant for corporate banking, the industry’s first financial large AI model alliance, as well as products including Financial Skillbase v2.0, Whitepaper on Banking Ontology, Next-Generation Banking Core System and Qiankun Modeling Platform, setting an industry benchmark for the AI era.

The thematic seminars and closed-door dialogues set segmented agendas classified by bank types and technology tracks, conducting thorough research on pain points such as digital-intelligent breakthroughs for small and medium-sized banks, architectural upgrading of rural credit unions, quantum finance rollout, and AI risk control governance. The closed-door roundtables adopted targeted small-group matching: banks and technology enterprises negotiated cooperation intentions on personalized transformation challenges on-site, sorted out pilot implementation lists, and converted forward-looking research outcomes into practical, executable measures.