Shanghai FTZ pioneers financial openness, innovation

The Shanghai FTZ consistently serves as a pioneering model for financial openness and institutional innovations. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (Shanghai FTZ), which was inaugurated in Pudong in September 2013, has over the past decade consistently served as a pioneering model for financial openness and institutional innovations.

The Shanghai FTZ has since evolved into a national-level testing ground for new policies and mechanisms.

As of June this year, the FTZ had established 588 banking institutions and 135 insurance institutions, expediting the transition of China's reinsurance market from a unidirectional one to a bidirectional one.

The FTZ currently offers various financial products to ensure seamless cross-border financial services. Numerous banks from the Belt and Road participant countries have established branches within the FTZ.

Looking ahead, Shanghai's FTZ will further bolster innovation, enhance functionality, deepen reforms, and expand openness to drive the nation's development.