OWEN Kelly, chief executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise, is to sell Scotland as a world-class centre of finance and financial education on a British mission to Tianjin, China's fast-rising financial services hub.

SFE, the Edinburgh-based trade body for Scotland’s financial services sector, will this week participate in a joint mission between the British Council and the Tianjin Municipal Education Commission, focusing on teaching and learning in financial services. It will explore collaboration opportunities between higher education institutions, vocational colleges and commercial partners in China and Scotland.

The mission will advance the priorities outlined in the memorandum of understanding between the Tianjin Municipal Government and Scottish Government, signed by First Minister Alex Salmond and Mayor of Tianjin, Huang Xingguo in July last year.

Kelly, a former civil servant and a graduate in Chinese from Edinburgh University, will deliver part of his keynote speech in Mandarin, of which he is a fluent speaker,

“For us the trip is the next step in a dialogue with the city of Tianjin. The British Council is facilitating the visit. Their mission is to promote UK education, and our mission is to promote Scotland as a financial centre with high standards of financial education.

“We began to speak to Tianjin when they were designated by the Chinese government as a special economic zone. They built a brand new city and are now in the business of populating it with the people with the skills necessary to make it a financial services hub for that part of Asia.

“We will be explaining that while Scotland is a small country, it has a full range of financial services industries and has pioneered effective collaborations with our universities, such as the Scottish Financial Risk Academy, in which all universities are involved.”