Yunnan--pillar of booming regional business

Tianjin expected to pave way for financial reform

By Hao Nan (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-20 08:01

As China steps up efforts at international financial integration, Tianjin will be a significant player in the process, Cui Jindu, vice-mayor of Tianjin, told a recent financial summit in Kunming.

"Finance is at the core of a country's international economic competitiveness," he remarked.

After China's opening-up began more than three decades ago, it has undertaken increasing efforts to promote financial reform and internationalization that matches its actual economic growth.

The first came in 1994, when the dual exchange rate system - one rate for trade and another for non-trade activities - was abolished and the foreign exchange market was established.

In 1996, China began to enhance renminbi convertibility.

After the nation joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, the central government began to honor its commitments to further open financial markets.

By 2005, China began a controlled exchange rate mechanism based in part on market demand.

In 2009, China started to promote cross-border trade settled in renminbi.

Tianjin now has an ambitious plan to be a pilot in China's financial reform and internationalization.

The Binhai New Area will be the testing ground of Tianjin's financial reform, Cui told the audience of banking experts gathered in Kunming.

The Binhai New Area is developing into a financial services hub in north China, home to a number of financial institutions from home and abroad engaged in banking, insurance, securities, futures, mutual funds, consumer credit, asset management and service outsourcing.

According to the vice-mayor, helping local enterprises with equity transfer and trade financing is now a highlight of Tianjin's financial industry.

The vice-mayor noted that financial institutions in Tianjin have close relations with traders of coal, crude oil and metals and help them set prices on international markets.

(China Daily 08/20/2010 page19)