Recently, five departments including the People's Bank of China ("PBC") have jointly distributed the Opinions on Further Accelerating the Building of Shanghai into an International Financial Center and Offering Financial Support to the Integrated Development of the Yangtze River Delta Region (the "Opinions").
The Opinions propose two initiatives in support of building Shanghai into a global finance hub. First, seven measures, including supporting commercial banks in establishing specialized wealth management subsidiaries and specialized investment subsidiaries to invest in the equity of non-listed companies, and improving investment facilitation for cross-border trade, are rolled out to propel the bold exploration and trials in respect of finance in the Lingang New Area. Second, another 11 measures which include expanding the market access for foreign-invested financial institutions, promoting the building of the center for the allocation and risk management of RMB-denominated financial assets and creating a high-quality financial business environment in accordance with international standards, are launched to accelerate the higher-level opening up of Shanghai's financial sector. In addition, as regards the support for the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region, the Opinions stress the focus on three priorities, including "prompting financial institutions to seek collaboration across provinces (municipality directly under the Central Government) to boost the overall efficiency and level of financial services within the Yangtze River Delta region".