Farsighted financial development strategy key to continued success

Qingdao has demonstrated a high standard of wealth management and financial development over the past several years, business insiders said.

In 2014, the city in East China's Shandong province was approved by the State Council to build a wealth management and comprehensive financial reform pilot zone, making it one of the first in the country to realize that accomplishment.

Zhou Xuedong, an official of the research bureau at the People's Bank of China, told the recent China Wealth Forum in Qingdao that the variety of wealth management institutions in the pilot zone over the past nine years facilitated several helpful experiments aimed at mitigating risks and increasing value for their clients.

The annual forum gathered officials and industry leaders from China and abroad to share their perspectives and provide insights into global cooperation in wealth management.

Wang Zhaodi, former chief examination officer of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, said the influence and appeal of the wealth forum make it an important platform for communication in China's wealth management industry. Since being launched in 2015 in Qingdao, it has played an important role in transforming the city into an international center for wealth management.

Over the past nine years, Qingdao has built a wealth management system led by financial management subsidiaries to promote coordinated development of business types. During this period, the city has listed 59 new companies — 2.3 times as many as the figure of the previous 21 years — bringing the total to 83. As well, the number of private equity fund managers and their managed funds have grown by 10 and 23 times respectively since 2013.

Direct financing in 2022 reached 340.42 billion yuan ($47.45 billion) — 15.5 times that of 2013. All of this has contributed to a significant improvement in the quality and efficiency of the real economy.

According to official data, since the start of this year, Qingdao's domestic and foreign currency deposits and loan balances in the finance industry have surpassed 2.7 trillion yuan and 2.8 trillion yuan respectively. By the end of May, the loan scale of Qingdao's financial institutions exceeded 2.8 trillion yuan — nearly triple that of 2013.

Aiming to promote high-quality development of wealth management, Qingdao has given priority to the reform of pension finance as an important aspect of enhancing wealth management. It is the only city in northern China that has piloted projects for pension finance, and in recent years has also taken a lead in developing a finance technology that coordinates insurance and loans.

Participants attend the China Wealth Forum 2023 held in Qingdao, Shandong province, on July 8. CHINA DAILY