(Yicai) Oct. 16 -- Shanghai will further expand its high-level opening-up and step up efforts to create a first-class market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized business environment to attract financial institutions and professionals from home and abroad to set up in the city, according to its executive vice mayor.

Shanghai will continue to steadily expand institutional opening-up in terms of rules, regulations, management, and standards, and stimulate market vitality through higher-quality reform and innovation, Wu Wei said at the opening ceremony of the 2025 Shanghai Global Asset Management Forum today.

By strengthening communication with financial regulators and industry associations, the city will also strive to create a more relaxed and dynamic industry development environment for all types of financial institutions, Wu said.

Shanghai has made steady progress in its drive to become an international financial center and a global asset management hub, achieving significant results, Wu pointed out.

The city’s ability to allocate financial resources has been better than ever, Wu said, adding that the number of locally licensed financial institutions rose 7.4 percent to 1,782 as of the end of last year from 2019, including 555 foreign entities. 

Turnover on Shanghai's financial markets jumped 13 percent to CNY2.96 quadrillion (USD415.77 trillion) in the nine months ended Sept. 30 from a year earlier, according to Wu.

Some 75 public fund managers operated in Shanghai as of June 30, with assets under management of CNY12.74 trillion (USD1.79 trillion), ranking the city first nationwide, Wu said. There were also 3,701 private fund managers registered in the city, managing 40,500 funds worth CNY5.10 trillion (USD715.5 billion), also first in the country, he added.

Moreover, Shanghai is a major concentration point for foreign institutions, Wu said. Foreign-owned banks with local headquars there account for half of those in the Chinese mainland, he pointed out. Joint venture fund managers and foreign insurers in make up about half of their mainland peers, while all of the global top 10 asset management firms operate in Shanghai, Wu said.

Shanghai is actively exploring financial innovation, Wu said. For example, industry associations have initiated the setup of industry-standard guidelines on using artificial intelligence in asset management to support the technology’s adoption in areas such as equity and securities investment, he said. 

The organizers of the Shanghai Global Asset Management Forum, which was jointly hosted by Yicai and Bank of China, also released this year's edition of the Shanghai Guidebook for Overseas Asset Managers compiled by the Shanghai Asset Management Association.

Editor: Martin Kadiev