Shanghai's Pudong New Area has released a series of new measures designed to support its financial industry during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) period, Pudong Times reported on July 26.

The measures are set to take effect on August 12 and will become invalid after Dec 31, 2020. They are being launched in the hope of attracting more financial institutions and professionals to relocate to Pudong, and to help Shanghai develop into one of the world's leading financial centers.

Financial holding companies, financial institutions approved by the State Council or financial regulators, and financial institutions in emerging sectors such as financial leasing will be the main beneficiaries of the new measures.

This is the first time that financial holding companies have been offered this kind of policy support by the Pudong government, a reflection of the increasing importance of the sector to the area's economy.

Financial holding companies have prospered in recent years due to China's deepening of financial reforms and the rapid development of the Fintech industry, which has promoted the emergence of financial companies operating in a range of different fields.

Several leading State-owned and private enterprises regard Pudong as a good choice to locate their financial holding companies.

These companies will now be entitled to receive a variety of subsidies thanks to the new measures introduced by Pudong, which will target newly-established or newly-introduced financial holding companies.

As of the end of June, Pudong was home to 983 licensed financial institutions such as banks and securities and insurance firms, and 7,007 financial institutions from emerging sectors such as equity investment and management and financial leasing companies.