Pudong New Area is now home to 71 wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries of 51 internationally renowned asset management institutions. [Photo/VCG]

The Shanghai municipal government has been supporting Pudong New Area in building itself into a center for global asset management and financial leasing, according to a late-June guideline regarding Pudong's further reform and opening-up.

According to the guideline, the area will continue to attract world-renowned capital management institutions, promote innovative services in asset management businesses, and provide a high-quality business environment for foreign investment institutions in China.

Pudong is home to 71 wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries of 51 internationally renowned asset management institutions, including the world's largest investment company Vanguard, BNP Paribas Asset Management and Rotterdam-based asset management company Robeco.

Nine of the world's top 10 asset management institutions have set up operations in Pudong.

Blackrock, the largest investment firm worldwide, announced earlier that its wholly foreign-owned subsidiary in Pudong – BlackRock Investment Management (Shanghai) – has been approved to provide onshore investment advisory services in China, allowing the firm to offer services to onshore securities and futures firms and their subsidiaries, as well as fund management companies and their subsidiaries in China.

The guideline also supported Pudong in becoming a hotbed for financial leasing by leveraging the industrial service platforms of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone and improving the policy environment for industrial development.

Over the years, Pudong has actively promoted the development of financial leasing and has cultivated enterprises to this end.

Last November, the area issued a host of measures to boost the development of industry, including supporting the establishment of related companies, optimizing the industrial environment, and improving services for the financial leasing industry.

By the end of 2018, roughly 1,795 financial leasing companies had settled in Pudong, with registered capital of around 744.2 billion yuan ($108.13 billion).

The Pudong New Area Finance Bureau said that more efforts will be made in the development of aviation, shipping, and energy leasing in the future.