Financial hub dream still on track
By Wang Yanlin |
January 10, 2012, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Shanghai's stock market did not perform well last year, but the city's foreign exchange and gold transactions were very active.
This helped complement losses in stocks and cement the city's position as a rising global financial center, Fang Xinghai, director of the Shanghai Financial Services Office, said yesterday.
And an industry index showed that the city's financial sector still improved in the first half of 2011 despite an unfavorable business climate.
"It is hard to summarize the performance of Shanghai's financial industry last year," Fang said. "When the stock market contracted, transactions of foreign exchange and gold were very active, and they helped to bolster overall performance."
Last year, the trading value of Shanghai's financial sector expanded nearly 2 percent from a year earlier, and capital directly raised jumped by around 20 percent year on year, Fang said, citing the latest data collected by his office.
In the first half of 2011, the trading value of the city's financial sector increased 7 percent annually to 166 trillion yuan (US$26.3 trillion), indicating a sharp deterioration in the second half of last year. The Shanghai Composite Index, a major gauge in China's two bourses, tumbled nearly 22 percent last year, making the country the worst performing stock market in the world.
But the transaction of foreign exchange was bolstered thanks to anticipation of a stronger yuan, and people bought more gold to seek protection from the influence of weak economic performances around the world.
"Shanghai still moves steadily toward becoming a global financial center, and we will focus on stabilizing growth this year," Fang said.
Last year, Citigroup and Orient Securities Co won regulatory approval to set up a joint venture, while Shanghai Pudong Development Bank was granted permission to team up with Silicon Valley Bank, Fang said.
Fang was speaking at a conference to make public the index compiled by the Shanghai Financial Association and consultancy firm Roland Berger that gauged the city's financial strength in the first half of 2011.
The financial sector had a compound annual growth rate of 19 percent between January and June last year, or 1.6 times of the city's gross domestic product growth rate, the association said.
The index also measured Shanghai's financial strength in areas including markets, professions, institutions, innovation and the regulatory environment.
It found the city was strong in its financial market system, but needed to build up strength in financial professionals.
The city was the most competitive domestic financial center and tied with Tokyo in fifth place among global financial centers, a report by the Institute of Finance and Banking under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences showed in November. It echoed the result of a previous ranking by the City of London which also put Shanghai in fifth place after London, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore.
This helped complement losses in stocks and cement the city's position as a rising global financial center, Fang Xinghai, director of the Shanghai Financial Services Office, said yesterday.
And an industry index showed that the city's financial sector still improved in the first half of 2011 despite an unfavorable business climate.
"It is hard to summarize the performance of Shanghai's financial industry last year," Fang said. "When the stock market contracted, transactions of foreign exchange and gold were very active, and they helped to bolster overall performance."
Last year, the trading value of Shanghai's financial sector expanded nearly 2 percent from a year earlier, and capital directly raised jumped by around 20 percent year on year, Fang said, citing the latest data collected by his office.
In the first half of 2011, the trading value of the city's financial sector increased 7 percent annually to 166 trillion yuan (US$26.3 trillion), indicating a sharp deterioration in the second half of last year. The Shanghai Composite Index, a major gauge in China's two bourses, tumbled nearly 22 percent last year, making the country the worst performing stock market in the world.
But the transaction of foreign exchange was bolstered thanks to anticipation of a stronger yuan, and people bought more gold to seek protection from the influence of weak economic performances around the world.
"Shanghai still moves steadily toward becoming a global financial center, and we will focus on stabilizing growth this year," Fang said.
Last year, Citigroup and Orient Securities Co won regulatory approval to set up a joint venture, while Shanghai Pudong Development Bank was granted permission to team up with Silicon Valley Bank, Fang said.
Fang was speaking at a conference to make public the index compiled by the Shanghai Financial Association and consultancy firm Roland Berger that gauged the city's financial strength in the first half of 2011.
The financial sector had a compound annual growth rate of 19 percent between January and June last year, or 1.6 times of the city's gross domestic product growth rate, the association said.
The index also measured Shanghai's financial strength in areas including markets, professions, institutions, innovation and the regulatory environment.
It found the city was strong in its financial market system, but needed to build up strength in financial professionals.
The city was the most competitive domestic financial center and tied with Tokyo in fifth place among global financial centers, a report by the Institute of Finance and Banking under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences showed in November. It echoed the result of a previous ranking by the City of London which also put Shanghai in fifth place after London, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore.
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