People take pictures of the skyline of Lujiazui financial and trade zone in Pudong new district, Shanghai, China, May 2, 2021. /CFP
China's metropolis Shanghai is vowing to become a "comprehensive and open" global asset management center by 2025, according to an official document on Tuesday.
Shanghai will support qualified foreign capital to set up securities, funds, pension management and other institutions in Shanghai, either as a sole proprietorship or joint venture, read the document issued by the municipal government.
As a plan of building Shanghai into a global asset management center, the document also revealed to promote asset management institutions to participate in the management of pension funds and carbon financial products.
The financial center will also further consolidate its position in the international gold market, said the plan.
Last year, China canceled the quota restrictions on two major inbound investment schemes, the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII) program and its yuan-denominated sibling, RQFII, which have clarified and simplified management requirements for foreign institutional investors when engaging securities and futures investment funds in China.
Since then, interest from foreign institutional investors in entering the market has surged, according to CNBC, citing Vicky Tsai, head of securities services for Citi China.
"We assisted many foreign investors in applying and obtain(ing) QFII licenses, including several top-tiered global hedge fund and private fund management companies with sizeable investments or plans," Tsai said in an email to CNBC.
QFII and RQFII were adopted in 2003 and 2011, respectively, in an effort to gradually open China's capital market.
As the country's financial hub, Shanghai is always on the front line of China's opening-up. In the latest edition of the Global Financial Centers Index published by the British think tank Z/Yen Group and China Development Institute, Shanghai ranked third after New York and London.
In the first four months of 2021, the total foreign direct investment into Shanghai jumped 20.3 percent to $7.77 billion compared to the same period last year, said the Shanghai government on Monday.