Shanghai’s innovative strategies boost the effectiveness of financial

As Shanghai strives to become an international financial center, the local government and banks are introducing innovative policies and measures to support businesses.

Lujiazui Financial City

Lujiazui Financial City in Pudong New Area has over 8,000 financial institutions, including 80 percent of the country’s foreign asset management institutions, 40 percent of foreign legal entity banks, one-third of fund management companies, and one-fourth of insurance asset management institutions, making it an important gathering place for global asset management institutions in China.

A series of landmark financial industry expansion and opening-up achievements were made in Lujiazui, including JPMorgan Chase, the country’s first wholly foreign-owned securities company, the first batch of Sino-foreign joint venture bank wealth management companies like BlackRock Jianxin, and the first batch of wholly foreign-owned public fund management companies such as BlackRock, Neuberger Berman, Fidelity, and Schroeder.

Lujiazui aims to serve global financial institutions by enhancing institutional integration, fostering cooperation across platforms, and optimizing the business environment.

Green finance, as a new engine of economic transformation, plays a significant role in driving high-quality development. The Pilot Implementation Plan for Comprehensive Reform of Pudong New Area (2023-2027) stated that it should encourage the development of diverse green financial products while adhering to legal requirements and effectively preventing and controlling risks.

Pudong New Area has promulgated the “Several Provisions on the Development of Green Finance in Shanghai Pudong New Area” regulations to enhance green financial services, promote inclusive finance, and integrate science and technology innovation finance. This is the first time Shanghai and Pudong have used legislative flexibility in the financial industry.

The pilot implementation plan suggests using digital yuan for trade settlement, e-commerce payments, carbon trading, green power trading, and other applications. Since the pilot application of the digital yuan in Shanghai, Pudong has aggressively encouraged banks, third-party payment institutions, enterprises, and supermarkets to carry out the trial operation, resulting in the development of several domestic apps.

Standard Chartered

Standard Chartered has actively promoted cross-border and free trade business for small and medium-sized businesses in Shanghai. The bank offers diverse facility channels, convenient settlement techniques, and risk management tools for cross-border trade by small and medium-sized enterprises through new financial products and service models.

Meanwhile, it collaborates with governmental bodies and industry…