Shanghai to Improve Performance in Financial Sector

Shanghai is to improve its financial industry and offer a wide platform for domestic and overseas enterprises, said vice mayor of Shanghai Jiang Yiren Thursday.

The move is even crucial to the development of the whole country, even though Shanghai still has a long way to go, said Jiang at the Sixth Round-Table Conference of Asian Directors of Finance held by the Economist Group of Britain.

Shanghai's financial sector remains to be opened further and the city lacks mature intermediary organizations and experienced specialized professionals, Jiang said.

It will, therefore, speed up the development of state-owned financial intermediary organizations, introduce from overseas countries related services such as financial evaluating companies and securities broker organizations in an attempt to further improve the industry, he said.

Last year, the added value achieved by financial and insurance sectors accounted for 15.2 percent of the city's gross domestic products (GDP).

To date, 80 percent of the world top 50 banks have set up branches in Shanghai. The city has 65 foreign-funded financial organizations, including 54 foreign-funded banks and 11 foreign- funded insurance companies.

A number of internationally known insurance companies such as American International Group (AIG) and Allianz from Germany have entered Shanghai's insurance market.

A number of the world's leading insurers and banks are interested in teaming up with Chinese institutions of higher learning to form insurance research and training programs, which can contribute to the opening-up of the country's insurance market.

China's impending entrance into the World Trade Organization will bring more opportunities to Shanghai, which encourages international financial organizations to set up branch offices in Shanghai, said Jiang.

The Economist Group, owner of the globally influential Economist magazine, has previously held two seminars in Shanghai.






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