Shanghai FTZ plans Chinese Nasdaq

(ECNS) -- Shanghai's Pudong New Area is planning on a Nasdaq-like market for its pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in the hope that more of its enterprises could get their stocks listed and obtain much-needed capital to fuel development, local newspaper Wen Hui Bao reported.

Financial reform is one of the major tasks for the Shanghai FTZ this year, Pudong's financial service bureau said at a press briefing on the Zone's financial policies on Thursday.

Xu Yaoling, deputy head of the bureau, said Pudong would do all it can to assist the zone's financial reforms and piloting of innovative programs.

The FTZ will create a Nasdaq market for China by asking regulators to lower the entry threshold to make it easier for innovative startup enterprises to go public. Additionally, it will take advantage of the zone's international financial markets platform to attract more overseas investors and provide finance services for innovative companies, Xu said.

The zone will also work to improve its financial institutions by attracting four major types of organizations: financial regulator second headquarters; emerging financial market institutions, such as insurance exchanges, trust services, and electronic commercial trading systems; major financial functions such as business second headquarters and funding companies; and new types of financial institutions, including privately-funded financial leasing companies, auto finance and consumer finance enterprises, and foreign-funded health insurance and reinsurance firms.

An executive with the Shanghai branch of Bank of China said that Shanghai was expected to become a global center for Renminbi products indices, trading, bidding and clearing services in 2015.