Founded in 1952 and under the dual leadership of both Shanghai municipal government and the People’s Bank of China (the central bank), Shanghai Finance University (SHFU), with finance and insurance as its core majors, is a full time academic institution. SHFU has committed to cultivating various special talents required by China's economy and finances. Tens of thousands of graduates can be found throughout nearly twenty provinces and cities in China. Many of them have become local and organizational leaders, experts and key members of business staffs; as a result, SHFU is praised as a "Cradle of Future Financial Experts".

At present, SHFU has a faculty of 480, of whom more than 100 have senior professional titles and three are entitled to State Special Allowance by the State Council. Meanwhile, famous scholars like Nobel Prize winners Robert Mundell and Robert Aumann have been invited as guest professors.