Major plan by central regulators calls for innovative, transparent system

Shanghai is taking major steps to seal its status as a global financial center, with central regulators laying out a specific action plan toward that goal.

With approval from the State Council, eight central regulatory bodies led by the People's Bank of China issued in late January the plan to develop Shanghai into an international financial hub. The move calls for the city to establish itself in the global financial market with prevailing renminbi products by 2020. A legal, innovative, highly efficient, transparent and open financial system will also be in place.

Shanghai Vice-Mayor Wu Qing said the city should focus on the development of major sectors - asset management, cross-border investment and financing, financial technology, insurance, renminbi asset pricing, payment and clearance, as well as financial risk management and stress testing.

"It has become a national strategy to build Shanghai into an international financial center and much progress has been made to that end," said Huang Xiaoguang, CEO of ANZ Bank China.

Although there is still much room for improvement to attain the goal, Shanghai will eventually grow into a global financial hub that is on par with London and New York, as China becomes stronger and the financial sector is further connected to the international market with the new round of opening-up, Huang said.

Shanghai Party secretary Li Qiang said at the Lujiazui Forum in June last year that finance is the "most active element" in Shanghai's development. The city has "strong financial DNA" and shown unique advantages in the financial industry. While China needs a strong financial system and a global financial center that is in line with the country's economic power and the renminbi's international standing, it is Shanghai's mission to shoulder the responsibility, he said.

Total trading volume in the Shanghai financial market exceeded 1,645 trillion yuan ($242 trillion) in 2018, up 15.2 percent from a year earlier, according to latest figures. There were 1,605 registered financial institutions in the city by 2018, among which 68 were registered last year. Nearly 30 percent of all the financial institutions were from overseas.