Shenyang to become strong financial hub

Massive growth in consumption fuels plans to transform city in Liaoning province

With constant efforts in market reform and opening-up, Shenyang in Northeast China's Liaoning province has made advances in trade and finance, local officials said.

The city's increased consumption has played a leading role in driving its economic growth, said Zhao Ge, head of the Shenyang commerce bureau.

Local consumption has seen an optimized structure and improved environment over the past few years, Zhao said.

Official data show that, in 2020, total retail sales of consumer goods in Shenyang increased nearly 30 percent compared with 2012.

With the construction of an international consumption hub, Shenyang has improved its market service system. It has established four central business districts revolving around landmarks, including Zhongjie Road and Taiyuan Street, and has upgraded 44 commercial streets in its 13 districts and counties. The city is home to 351 large-scale retail facilities, with each of them covering more than 5,000 square meters. The express delivery services reach all of the city's urban and rural areas.

"The traditional trade form has seen great changes with the fast development of e-commerce," Zhao said.

In 2018, Shenyang was approved to build a cross-border e-commerce comprehensive experimental zone. Last year, its trade volume reached 480 million yuan ($73.5 million), an increase of 11 times from 2019. In addition, the city has welcomed e-commerce giants including JD and Suning to set up regional headquarters.

Shenyang has built five provincial-level bases for livestreaming, which have more than 5 million users. Last year, the city's first e-commerce livestreaming event generated 8.56 billion yuan in trade volume, ranking it top in the province.

Apart from domestic businesses, the city has also strengthened trade cooperation with international partners. To date, Shenyang has conducted trade and business in more than 190 countries and regions.

In 2019, the total import and export volume of Shenyang exceeded 100 billion yuan for the first time, reaching 107.28 billion yuan. In 2020, the city maintained the volume record despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It completed outsourced orders worth $470 million, up 58.5 percent.

"Attracting business and investment has become a key support for industrial development," Zhao said.

Last year, the actual utilization of foreign capital in Shenyang reached $714 million, ranking top in Liaoning. It has attracted domestic investment of 111.66 billion yuan, the first time it has exceeded 100 billion yuan. Since 2012, Shenyang has attracted foreign-funded manufacturers, including BMW Brilliance Automotive and tiremaker Michelin.

"Foreign-funded business investment has become a key driving force to Shenyang's economic growth …while major domestic investment projects inject impetus to its development," Zhao said.

With the development of markets, finance service to the real economy in the city has been increased.

The size of and employment in the finance industry in Shenyang ranks top in Northeast China, said Wu Xiangguo, head of the Shenyang financial development bureau.

Bank credit has played a big role in offering capital support to the real economy. The city's new loans have topped 100 billion yuan for eight consecutive years, Wu said.

In 2020, the city added 15.46 billion yuan of inclusive loans for microbusinesses, up 33.1 percent year-on-year. At present, Shenyang is home to 24 listed companies. They secured new financing of 6.34 billion yuan, which has accumulated to 97.76 billion yuan in total so far.

"We have formed a development pattern by integrating banking, insurance, security and financial leases and other industries," said Wu.

By the end of 2020, Shenyang had 1,278 financial institutions.

Last year, the Shenyang city government issued a guideline on developing the city as a regional financial hub over the next 10 years. It aims to transform the city into a major innovative and open financial hub in Northeast China－and even Northeast Asia. To ensure there is no financial risks, the city established a financial stability development committee in 2020.

Next, Shenyang will work on sectors including enlarging direct financing, deepening inclusive finance, developing fintech and strengthening financial supervision, according to Wu.