When the China chief executive of the US investment bank JPMorgan was first nominated as a delegate to China’s top political advisory body, he had a hard time explaining to his employer exactly what the role involved.

“After a lot of back and forth and explanations from me, the internal legal team eventually concluded that it would be similar to being appointed to the [British] House of Lords, although the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference is indeed something unique to China,” laughs Fang Fang, 45, who is also vice-chairman of Asia-Pacific investment banking at JPMorgan.

That is not quite how China’s leaders like to present the CPPCC, held alongside the National People’s Congress, the country’s parliament, which opens in earnest in Beijing on Saturday.