This photo, taken on July 13, 2022, shows the downtown area of southwest China's Chongqing. (Photo/Xinhua)

Chongqing - According to the recent financial work conference in Chongqing, Chongqing vows to accelerate the development of the Western Financial Center that serves the Belt and Road Initiative partner countries and regions, with a focus on Southeast Asia and South Asia.

Lu Hua, assistant to the dean of the Institute for Comprehensive Research on Free Trade Zones at Fudan University, said to Chongqing Daily that China's major global and national financial centers are mainly Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen, primarily located in the eastern region. As the only municipality under the direct management of the central government in the Western region, Chongqing's development of a Western Financial Center will help promote high-quality development of the Western region in the new era and the Belt and Road Initiative. This is of positive significance for Chongqing, the western region, and the country's high-level opening-up.

Chongqing has achieved notable results in accelerating the development of the Western Financial Center over the years.

The value added by the financial industry has continued to grow. In 2023, Chongqing's financial industry-added value reached 259.1 billion yuan ($36.39 billion), accounting for 8.6 percent of the city's GDP, the second highest in the Western region.

By the end of 2023, Chongqing's deposit balance in both domestic and foreign currencies reached 5.36 trillion yuan, and the loan balance reached 5.67 trillion yuan, marking year-on-year increases of 8.0 percent and 9.8 percent, respectively.

This photo, taken on Sept. 13, 2023, shows the interior of the Chongqing branch of the Development Bank of Singapore in southwest China's Chongqing. (Photo/Xinhua)

The number of financial institutions has been continuously increasing. Currently, Chongqing leads the western region in the number of entities like foreign banks and “A+H” share-listed banks. All types of financial institution licenses have been fully issued and regulated.

Support for enterprises has been strengthening. Chongqing has been driving capital into strategic investments based on the "416" blueprint for science and technology innovation. In 2023, Chongqing added ten new listed companies, with the number of new domestic IPOs ranking first in the Western region.

In April, Chongqing unveiled an action plan for the high-quality development of the Western Financial Center. By 2025, Chongqing's financial industry-added value is expected to reach 300 billion yuan, accounting for 9 percent of GDP, with the number of listed companies reaching 125. By 2027, the added value of the financial industry is projected to reach 380 billion yuan, exceeding 9.5 percent of GDP, with both domestic and foreign currency deposit and loan balances reaching 8 trillion yuan and the number of listed companies increasing to 160.

Li Jing, president of Chongqing Three Gorges University and vice chairman of China Regional Economic Association, told Chongqing Daily that leveraging and securing relevant open policies will optimize the financial business environment and attract more financial institutions to establish a presence in Chongqing.

For example, Chongqing could leverage relevant policy advantages to encourage the establishment of regional functional headquarters in the city and strive to have national exchanges and financial institutions set up trading systems and other financial infrastructure. Additionally, Chongqing could utilize platforms and opportunities such as the Belt and Road Initiative, the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, and the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Connectivity Initiative Financial Summit to advance financial institutional openness, optimize access conditions and attract non-bank foreign financial institutions to the city, Li said.

Lu believed that Chongqing needs to optimize financial support for the real economy to build a Western Financial Center. Only by continuously growing and strengthening the real economy can effective financial demand be created, which in turn will promote the sustained prosperity and development of the financial industry.

At the same time, Lu added that finance is a highly talent-dependent industry. Therefore, for a city to become a financial center, it must have a distinct advantage in attracting various financial professionals. This includes employees of financial institutions and a significant number of high-end professionals in closely related service sectors, such as lawyers, accountants, and management consultants.

According to Chongqing Daily, leveraging digital technology is also essential to enhancing the quality and efficiency of the financial industry. Financial enterprises should utilize technologies and tools such as big data, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and financial models to provide timely, personalized services to clients, improve the reliability of default risk predictions, and address issues such as financing difficulties and high costs for small and medium-sized enterprises in the western region and countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative.

(Qi Xiaofang, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)