After the Agricultural Bank of China and China Merchants Bank, two more financial institutions , the China Guangfa Bank and Hengfeng Bank, have recently been approved by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission to set up their capital operation centers in East China's Shanghai.

Capital operation centers are subsidiaries of banks that handle interbank business, bond investments, foreign exchange transactions, precious metal trade, and other businesses.

The founding of such an independent operation center in Shanghai is expected to help better utilize the city's financial resources and favorable policies, increase capital efficiency, reduce financing costs, as well as boost competitiveness, according to a staff member at the financial market department of Hengfeng Bank.

To date, Shanghai has become an important market where a variety of financial transactions are made, such as the trading of stocks, bonds, currencies, foreign exchange, futures, and gold. The city has been making efforts to further open up its financial sector and improve its financial infrastructure.

Shanghai is now home to a total of 12 capital operation centers of banks, the most in China. Besides the aforementioned four banks, the Bank of Jiangsu, the Bank of Nanjing, as well as Ningbo Commercial Bank have also opened their capital operation centers in Shanghai.