A glorious sunrise greets the Bund along the Huangpu River in Puxi and the Lujiazui Financial District in Shanghai's Pudong New Area [Photo/IC]

New reform measures for Pudong New Area, revealed recently by Shanghai, point a clear way ahead for the further opening up of Pudong's financial industry, said Zhang Hui, deputy director of the Pudong financial services bureau.

According to the guidelines, the municipal government of Shanghai will support Pudong in expanding its financial markets further, help regional headquarters and platforms of financial institutions to set up operations there and improve support policies and systems for the financial market.

Analysts say that after years of development, Pudong has successfully seen the most important financial markets set up shops there – including the equities, bonds, currencies, foreign exchange, insurance, commodity futures, financial futures and gold trading markets. In so doing it has become one of the most complete and concentrated financial capitals in the world.

Last March, China launched trading of the yuan-denominated crude oil futures contracts at the Shanghai International Energy Exchange, which is the first futures listed on China's mainland for overseas investors. It is expected to become a benchmark for oil transactions in Asia in the future.

Pudong will look to accelerate its expansion into various financial markets, attracting more overseas investors and promoting the international profile of Pudong financial market, Zhang added.

While Pudong's financial markets serve global investors, foreign-funded financial institutions are also increasing their presence in the area.

Over the past year, Pudong has vigorously promoted the opening up of its finance industry and rolled out over 10 related projects.

Official statistics revealed that up to date, around 300 licensed foreign financial institutions have settled in Pudong, accounting for 30 percent of all the licensed financial institutions in the area.

Zhang said Pudong would build a financial investment promotion mechanism for overseas financial institutions and attract more competitive players with international influence.