Significant new policy measures have been announced for Shanghai's financial sector.
The Shanghai Municipal Government has issued a comprehensive set of guidelines aimed at strengthening the city's position as a global asset management hub.
Key Objectives and Initiatives
The plan sets an ambitious target for Shanghai to manage assets totaling 55 trillion yuan by 2030, which would represent one-third of the national total.
A major focus is on enhancing the capital markets. The guidelines call for supporting the listing and mergers of technology firms with strong innovative credentials to improve the quality and technological content of equity assets.
In the derivatives market, authorities will accelerate the launch of liquefied natural gas (LNG) futures and options. Preparations will be made to develop futures contracts for electricity and computing power. The product line for shipping index futures will be steadily expanded, with research into new futures varieties that represent advanced productive forces.
The initiative also aims to promote the listing of new financial products, including stock index futures and options based on the SSE STAR Market 50, SZSE 100, and ChiNext indices, as well as treasury bond options.
Transformation within the fund management industry is encouraged. Public fund managers are urged to shift their focus from scale to investor returns, launching more innovative products like index funds and funds with floating management fees.
The plan emphasizes attracting long-term capital into the markets, striving to create an ecosystem conducive to "long-term money making long-term investments." It guides long-term capital from sources like social security funds, insurance funds, and financial asset investment companies to participate in the full lifecycle development of tech enterprises.
Support is outlined for developing family trust services and promoting a full-lifecycle wealth management model combining "trust services with asset allocation." Financial institutions with family office functions are encouraged to operate in a standardized and professional manner.
Innovative applications of the digital yuan will be explored in areas such as securities, funds, and bank wealth management products.
Mechanisms like the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, China-Europe Connect, and Bond Connect will be optimized. There are plans to steadily include products like REITs in the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect program.
The Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) system will be refined, with an orderly expansion of the range of futures and options products available to qualified foreign investors.
Eligible asset management institutions will be supported in using Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) channels to meet investors' cross-border investment needs in an orderly fashion.
Asset managers will be encouraged to launch cross-border products that facilitate global investors' "one-click allocation" into domestic Chinese assets.
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