Over the past year, during the development of Beijing's "two zones," 85 out of the 102 tasks in Beijing's financial sector have been implemented with a completion rate of 83%; 68 Chinese and foreign financial institutions, of which 17 are foreign-funded ones, have landed in the city, according to the introduction of Wang Ying, Deputy Director General of Beijing Local Financial Supervision and Administration, at the press conference held today marking the first anniversary of the development of the "two zones."
Among the newly opened 17 foreign-funded financial institutions, are the first wholly foreign-owned insurance asset management company, currency broker, licensed payment service provider, the first foreign-owned securities company, the country's fifth asset management company, and the second personal credit agency.
To facilitate the global flow of innovative elements, Beijing actively explores trading modes related to areas such as private equity, big data, and voluntary emission reduction by creating a number of innovative financial market platforms including a pilot platform for equity investment and venture capital share transfer, the Beijing International Big Data Exchange, and the China Beijing Environmental Exchange and establishing the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei credit investigation chain, the country's first Internet-based enterprise credit information platform.
In addition, Beijing has launched a number of pioneering cross-border financial services and products. Pilot programs including the integration of local and foreign currency capital pools for multinational corporations and an integrated bank account system combining both domestic and foreign currencies took the lead to initiate in Beijing. As for the foreign debt facilitation pilot program, the quota of foreign debt was increased to $10 million, and the QDLP quota was raised to $10 billion, both the highest across the country. Beijing was among the first to launch the pilot project to facilitate the cross-border RMB settlement for high-quality and trustworthy enterprises in foreign contracted projects. The pilot program of facilitating foreign exchange and capital account receipts and payments was implemented, with business volume exceeding $77 billion. To explore and develop cross-border green credit asset securitization, ICBC issued the first clean energy vehicle asset-backed serial bonds in China, which were well subscribed by domestic and foreign investors.
A number of leading financial technology pilot projects have been implemented. The Beijing-version "regulatory sandbox" has released 22 projects in 3 batches. The first batch of 23 fintech innovation pilot projects in the capital market have been launched. A pilot program of digital RMB application in holistic use cases has been launched to carry out the most extensive and in-depth stress test on the use of digital RMB, focusing on the Winter Olympics and the development of the international consumption center. The National Financial Technology Certification Center (Beijing) and the Beijing National Institute of Financial Standardization were established to strengthen the underlying strength of financial technology. Beijing is equipped with basic capacities to set up fintech standards that lead the world.
Beijing has also implemented a number of exemplary policies on the business environment for the financial sector. The Beijing Financial Court was established to conduct financial trials with high standards, providing judicial services and assurance for the capital's financial reform and innovation. A qualification recognition procedure of international licensing for securities and futures was implemented to waive tests other than law exams for foreign securities and futures professionals, providing them with greater convenience when practicing in Beijing. In addition, Beijing has further advanced the pilot reform of "separating certificates from business license" in the financial sector and continued to improve the quality and efficiency of government services.
It is worth mentioning that Beijing is at the forefront of green finance in China. The scale of green credit and green bonds ranks first in the country. The average transaction price of carbon emission rights products of all categories in the carbon market also ranks first in the country. More than 10% of the publicly listed companies are from the field of energy conservation and environmental protection. At present, Beijing positions green finance as one of the four key areas of opening up the entire industrial chain for the development of the "two zones", and is pushing forward the innovation, speeding up the process of carbon neutrality supported by green finance.
Wang Ying emphasized that the newly established Beijing Stock Exchange marks a key step in China's effort in the reform and development of its multi-tier capital market, which is a milestone in the history of the city's financial development. Beijing will actively provide services for the follow-up construction and development of the Beijing Stock Exchange in the future. As the national financial regulation center, it will take the establishment of the Beijing Stock Exchange as an opportunity to create more institutional innovations up to the highest standards and accumulate more experience that can be replicated and disseminated, playing an exemplary role in the higher-level opening-up of the national financial industry.
(Reporter: Du Yan)
