EDITOR'S note:

Chengdu, capital of China's southwestern Sichuan Province, is a city going places. In June it will host the prestigious Fortune Global Forum, acknowledgement of Chengdu's growing reputation as a major business center. Much of this success can be attributed to the city's dynamic "can-do" attitude, helping create an environment where industry can prosper and where leading multinationals are choosing to set up headquarters. Hu Xiaocen

Chengdu, capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan, will host the Fortune Global Forum this year, joining Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing as Chinese cities honored to stage an event that attracts the glitterati of the business world.

The theme of the 2013 forum - "China's New Future" - encapsulates the nation's "Go West" strategy of focusing on less-developed inland regions and narrowing their economic gap with rich eastern coastal cities.

It also encapsulates the dream of Chengdu to take advantage of the new opportunities and become a major regional hub in the West.

Andy Serwer, managing editor of Fortune magazine, said the city is the ideal location for the forum this year.

"Situated in the heart of China's rapidly growing western region, Chengdu has become a dynamic magnet for multinational companies, a center for higher education and a leader in a diverse range of industries," Serwer said in an earlier announcement.

In a city that has already made its mark as a center for information technology and auto-making, financial services has become the latest pillar industry. It's well on its way.

Last year, the sector's value grew 14 percent from 2011 to 70 billion yuan (US$11 billion), accounting for almost a 10th of the city's output of goods and services. By 2015, that figure is forecast to top 100 billion yuan.

As of last September, the city was home to 59 banking institutions, 57 securities and futures brokerage firms, 69 insurance companies, four trust fund companies, four financial management companies and 13 back-office support centers.

"There are 13 foreign banks and 14 foreign insurers in Chengdu at the moment," said Cao Xuefei, an officer in the banking and insurance division of the financial work office. "And some of them have been here for more than a decade."

He said Chengdu has the highest number of foreign banks and the largest financial transaction volume in central and western China.

"We plan to build the city into a back-office banking center to support the growing number of financial transactions," he said.

Australia & New Zealand Bank (ANZ) has established its global Chinese-language operation center in the city, and dozens of other global financial institutions are expanding their footprint there. We look at some samples.Citibank: Early arrival starts to pay off

Citibank China first tapped the market in Sichuan by establishing a representative office in downtown Chengdu in 1999. Richard Rang, general manager of what has now evolved into a branch of the bank, was there from the start.

"The branch was set up in 2005, and we started to do yuan business in 2007," Rang told Shanghai Daily during an interview. "We have quite a variety of customers here, including local businesses, multinational conglomerates and Taiwan-based companies. Basically, our clients are either foreign companies that are interested in doing businesses in Chengdu or local businesses that want to expand overseas."

He said the bank plans to add one more outlet "to meet the growing demand for financial services in the region."

Although business volumes in Chengdu are not on a par yet with the mega cities of China's eastern seaboard, Rang said, the potential for growth in the city is phenomenal.

"It's a great opportunity for us," he said. "We are one of the foreign lenders with a high level of localization in Chengdu, given our history in the city, our staff structure and customer base."HSBC: Forward thinking serves clientsDaphne Xie, branch manager of HSBC's Chengdu branch, currently manages a staff of 100. The numbers have grown since the British-based bank, Europe's largest, established its representative office in 1996, four years before the central government officially turned its focus westward. The office was authorized to become a city branch in 2005.

"In addition to the main branch in Chengdu, we have another three outlets that are fully licensed to provide services like syndicated loans and offshore financing," Xie said. "We have a very balanced customer portfolio here, including state-owned companies, private businesses, foreigners and joint ventures."

Xie was reassigned to Chengdu last year from Xiamen, a major coastal city in southeastern China, where she served as branch manager. She said she was surprised to find that an inland city like Chengdu could have such an export-oriented economy.

She also noted Sichuan's large population and growing high net-worth income open doors for the bank's wealth-management services. HSBC's worldwide web of business ties also benefits companies in Sichuan that want to expand overseas.

"We helped the foreign shareholder of one of our clients here to raise funds through a yuan-denominated bond in Hong Kong," she said. "And that won't be a one-off."

Allianz: Looking at the big pictureApart from foreign banks, Chengdu is also attracting an array of other financial services providers, including Allianz China Life, the first European joint venture insurer in China. It was formed in 1999 in Shanghai and opened a branch in Sichuan Province in 2006.

"When we first entered the market in Sichuan, there were nine Chinese and four foreign insurers here," said Steve Liu, general manager of Allianz China's Sichuan branch. "The figures jumped to 28 and 14 by the end of last year. Obviously, the market has huge potential."

Sichuan is the fourth most populous province in China, with about 80.5 million people.

Total premium income in the province reached 82 billion yuan last year, ranking it eighth among China's 36 provinces, according to the China Insurance Regulatory Commission.

"Given that Chengdu is the economic and financial center of central and western China, our office here looks at a broader picture rather than at just one city," said Liu.

He said Allianz's Sichuan division currently has a sales team of 700, which managed to boost premium income 20 percent last year. He said he believes in the market because of its size and because the government supports growth.

As the economy expands, Sichuan has become the largest insurance market in inland China, with the highest premium flows and the largest number of insurers.

"People here in Chengdu are keen consumers with strong brand awareness," Liu said.

"They are people who place the joy of life above anything else."