The People's Bank of China headquarters in Beijing, Aug 3, 2018. [Photo/IC]

Shanghai's Pudong district set a goal of becoming the best demonstration area for applications of financial technology (fintech) at a conference Dec 17.

The goal showed Pudong’s determination to be a leader in the fintech industry which uses technology to make financial services more efficient and intelligent.

Pudong boasts a heavy financial market with the most financial institutions and transactions in China. More than 300,000 financial professionals and 500,000 information technology personnel work there, providing a talent pool for the development of the fintech industry. Pudong is also home to several outstanding fintech companies.

Wang Hua, deputy director of Pudong, unveiled the area's fintech development plan at the conference, adding that both the People's Bank of China and Shanghai have called for expanding fintech applications.

To encourage more innovative fintech applications, Pudong plans to give more support to technological utilization in the financial market involving asset trading, payment clearing, registration, deposits and transaction supervision.

Financial institutions and payment companies are encouraged to accelerate the implementation of research results of new technologies, especially those used to optimize various payment and settlement services, for example, to innovate in payment methods such as contactless payment, biometric technology payment, and smart wearable device payment under the premise of controllable risks.

Pudong will cooperate with Tsinghua University to develop regulation technology in the financial sector. An intelligent regulation services platform will be built by using artificial intelligence and big data technology, and a big data regulation platform for the banking and insurance industry will also be launched with the support of Shanghai Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

More efforts will be made to promote smarter management in banking, insurance and investment, such as improving corporate credit processes and credit evaluation models, and to apply artificial intelligence, machine learning and facial recognition technologies in asset management.

At the conference, Party Secretary of Pudong Weng Zuliang appointed eight fintech experts from home and abroad to provide intelligence support to Pudong's plans, policies and reform measures in the fintech industry.