Beijing aims to become major international financial hub

The municipal government of Beijing has pledged to work closely with state financial institutes to bolster the Chinese capital's status as a rising international financial hub, local officials said Tuesday.

Beijing will work to secure more credit supply from state financial institutes to support the city's development this year while rolling out favorable policies to lure more talents and financial institutes including multi-nationals and emerging financial institutes to stay here, they said.

The measures are aimed at developing Beijing into a major financial center with significant global influence, the officials added.

Beijing is home to state financial departments, regulatory agencies, major state financial institutes and many foreign institutes.

Local newspapers earlier quoted Beijing Vice Mayor Ji Lin as saying that Beijing accumulates roughly 60 percent of the country's financial assets and over 40 percent of the financial clearances are conducted in Beijing.

Last year, a global financial center assessment ranked Beijing 14th among 45 international financial centers around the globe.

The Xinhua-Dow Jones International Financial Center's Development Index (IFCD Index) in July 2011 rated the cities based on the overall performance of their financial industries and related development environment.

Topping the list were New York, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Paris, Frankfurt, Sydney, and Amsterdam.

China aims to make Shanghai a leading international financial center by developing a multi-functional and multi-layer financial market, and trialing a program for cross-border yuan trade settlement.

Although all key economic policy makers are based in Beijing, Shanghai is home to most of the country's major financial markets, including the China Foreign Exchange Trading System, an interbank market, the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the country's largest commodities exchange, and the China Financial Futures Exchange, the country's only such futures market.