Shanghai evolves as a financial center with decade-long push

Shanghai has kept enhancing its core functions as a financial center over the past decade, with the financial market and infrastructure systems being optimized step by step.

The city's total financial market turnover expanded to 2.511 quadrillion yuan (US$352.98 trillion) in 2021 from 528 trillion yuan in 2012, according to Xin Yadong, secretary of the Shanghai Financial Work Party Committee.

Its capacity to allocate yuan financial assets continues to grow, with Shanghai's cross-border yuan business settlement volume accounting for about a half of the national total.

In the past 10 years, the city's financial reform and opening-up has been pushed further, which has strongly supported the development of the real economy, Xin said.

The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone and its Lingang New Area, with their pioneering role in piloting reform policies, have achieved significant results in financial openness innovation.

For instance, the FTZ has created a free trade account system and launched a pilot foreign exchange management reform for a higher level of cross-border trade and investment opening.

Also, new breakthroughs have been made in financial market connectivity, with the smooth operation of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, the Bond Connect and the Shanghai-London Stock Connect.

The scale of direct financing has consistently expanded, with the volume of direct financing in the city's financial market increasing from 3.9 trillion yuan in 2012 to 18.3 trillion yuan in 2021.

The STAR Market on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, meanwhile, has been playing its role as a test field for innovation and reforms.

As of the end of September this year, 473 companies were listed on the STAR Market, collectively raising 718.18 billion yuan in funds and posting a total market value of 5.5 trillion yuan.

Shanghai's financial institution system has become increasingly sound over the ten years, leading the country in financial openness.

The number of licensed financial institutions in the city had increased to 1,719 by the end of June compared with 1,227 at the end of 2012, with foreign institutions accounting for about 30 percent.

The city has also stepped up efforts to cultivate and lure more international financial talents, with the total number of people employed in Shanghai's financial industry reaching 470,000.