At a recent press conference on advancing institutional opening-up in Beijing’s financial sector under the “two zones” initiative, it was announced that 52 domestic and foreign financial institutions established operations in the city in 2024. Since the launch of the “two zones” initiative, Beijing has ranked first for three consecutive years in the national evaluations of cities designated as Integrated National Demonstration Zone for Opening up the Services Sector. The city has implemented over 140 groundbreaking policies, with more than 70 institutional innovations being replicated across the country.
A total of 2,012 Foreign-Funded Enterprises Established in 2024
In June 2023, the State Council issued measures to support the China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone and other eligible pilot free trade zones (ports) in pioneering alignment with high-standard international rules to advance institutional opening-up. Subsequently, in November 2023, the State Council approved the Work Plan to Support Beijing in Developing the Integrated National Demonstration Zone for Opening up the Services Sector (hereafter referred to as the Demonstration Zone Work Plan 2.0), with 40% of its measures focused on alignment with high-standard international economic and trade rules. In January 2025, the People’s Bank of China, the Ministry of Commerce, and three other national authorities jointly issued opinions to support the Beijing Pilot Free Trade Zone and others in pioneering alignment with high-standard international rules in the financial sector to further advance institutional opening-up.
“A series of measures underscore China’s unwavering commitment to steadily expanding institutional opening-up and reflect the country’s strong support and high expectations for Beijing’s high-standard opening-up,” stated Guo Wenjie, Deputy Director General of the Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau. He noted that all districts and departments across the city have proactively undertaken pilot initiatives and implemented reforms independently. In just over a year, they completed 152 tasks outlined in the Demonstration Zone Work Plan 2.0, achieving a completion rate of over 86%. The first batch of pilot tasks for aligning with high-standard international economic and trade rules in the China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone has been fully implemented. As a result, the free trade zone successfully fulfilled its role as a comprehensive reform and opening-up experimental platform.
Beijing was among the first batch of pilot cities in China approved to expand opening-up in such sectors as value-added telecommunications and healthcare. The capital witnessed the establishment of the country’s first foreign-funded enterprise specializing in human genetic diagnosis and gene therapy. Additionally, it released the nation’s first scenario-based and field-level negative list for outbound data flow of companies in the Pilot Free Trade Zone, and it has taken the lead in the country in launching the catalogue of recognized overseas professional qualifications, transitioning from unilateral to mutual recognition. Since the launch of the “two zones” initiative, Beijing has introduced a series of pioneering policies.
In 2024, driven by institutional innovation, Beijing saw the establishment of 2,012 new foreign-funded enterprises, marking a 16.4% year-on-year increase. This growth surpassed the national average by 6.5 percentage points.
Accelerated Aggregation of Sci-Tech and Green Equity Investment Funds
The financial industry serves as a pivotal one in the further opening-up of the wider services sector. Since the launch of the “two zones” initiative, Beijing has implemented targeted policies to enhance its role as the national financial regulation center. Currently, the total financial assets in Beijing account for approximately half of the national total. The city leads the nation in the scale of private equity and venture capital under management, direct financing within its jurisdiction, as well as insurance penetration and density.
The country’s first newly incorporated wholly foreign-owned futures company and the country’s first newly established wholly foreign-owned brokerage firm were approved to open in Beijing; the Public Investment Fund (PIF), one of the world’s largest sovereign funds, set up its first Chinese mainland office in Beijing; and Beijing’s first joint venture bank card clearing organization opened for business. In 2024, Beijing’s financial industry prioritized new quality productive forces and promoted more vigorous opening-up, with a total of 52 important Chinese and foreign-funded financial institutions landed in Beijing.
A number of sci-tech innovation-focused green equity investment funds have accelerated their aggregation, providing support for the development of new quality productive forces. Wang Ying, Deputy Director of the Office of the Financial Commission of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, highlighted that in 2024, Beijing established eight new government investment funds, focusing on fields such as artificial intelligence, green energy, and low-carbon industries. Five major state-owned banks, leveraging the equity investment pilot of financial asset investment companies, increased their support for science and technology innovation. These efforts resulted in preliminary agreements for fund sizes of nearly 53 billion yuan, with over 100 projects in reserve. Among them, six funds have been launched, totaling nearly 6 billion yuan.
In 2024, the value added of Beijing’s financial sector reached 815.42 billion yuan, marking a 7.6% year-on-year increase, the highest in the past five years. This robust performance contributed 1.3 percentage points to the city’s GDP growth, underscoring the financial industry’s role as a ballast in Beijing’s economic development.
Sustained Enhancement of Foreign Investors’ Confidence in Beijing
As Beijing continues to optimize its international business environment, foreign investors’ confidence in the city has steadily grown.
“We have supported HSBC Insurance Brokers in completing six rounds of capital increases, elevating its registered capital from 10 million yuan to 1.978 billion yuan, making it the insurance intermediary with the highest paid-in capital in China,” said Lu Jian, Level I Bureau Rank Official at the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Local Financial Regulation. Beijing continues to attract high-quality financial resources and promote greater opening-up. In 2024 alone, the city supported several foreign-invested institutions, including Volvo Car Financial Services and Siemens Financial Services, in completing capital increases totaling nearly 2.6 billion yuan. Additionally, Beijing facilitated the transformation of Beijing Nova Insurance from a domestic-funded to a foreign-funded enterprise, and supported the restructuring of Generali China Insurance from a joint venture to a wholly foreign-owned enterprise, reinforcing foreign investors’ confidence in investing in China.
As a premier destination for major global financial institutions seeking to establish operations in China, Beijing hosts over 200 foreign-funded banks and insurance companies, ranking second nationwide in total number and showing a robust momentum of sustained and in-depth development. In 2024, foreign-funded banks in Beijing achieved a double-digit year-on-year growth in total assets, the highest in nearly eight years. Foreign-invested insurance companies also reported a positive year-on-year growth in gross written premiums while maintaining a strong solvency ratio. These developments underscore Beijing’s growing appeal to foreign financial institutions, highlighting its capacity to attract, retain, and support the successful development of international financial entities.
In 2024, two foreign-funded property and casualty insurance companies and six foreign-funded personal insurance companies under the jurisdiction of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Local Financial Regulation registered a positive year-on-year growth in gross written premiums, while maintaining a sound solvency ratio. Additionally, foreign-funded professional insurance intermediaries within the jurisdiction generated over RMB 13 billion in premium revenue, marking a year-on-year increase of over 30 percent. “We will continue to expand the breadth and depth of institutional opening-up, enhance the quality and effectiveness of reforms, firmly advance high-level financial opening-up, and actively contribute to the high-quality socio-economic development of the capital,” said Lu Jian.
