By Jieyu Wang, Editor

What further measures will be Chongqing take to promote the financial cooperation between China and Singapore, based on their remarkable achievements? A principal from Chongqing Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau revealed on September 10 that, by focusing on critical areas of financial cooperation between China and Singapore, Chongqing will strive to push the mutual agreement to a new level from six aspects including mutual establishment of institutions, policy support, product innovation, market connectivity, regulatory cooperation and platform influence, thus accelerating the building of an inland international financial center based on the western China and facing ASEAN.

As for the mutual establishment of institutions, Chongqing will take active moves to attract Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, foreign-capital credit rating agencies, wealth management companies, pension companies, and insurance information and management companies to set up business development centers and operation management centers serving the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC) and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The city will also support Chinese and foreign-capital financial institutions to set up middle and back-end operational bases for ASEAN in Chongqing. Moreover, qualified Chongqing financial holding companies will be allowed to cooperate with ASEAN financial institutions to initiate the establishment or take stakes in various types of financial institutions.

Chongqing will strive for an open and innovative financial policy and build an innovative, exemplary city.

As for policy support, Chongqing will strive for an open and innovative financial policy and build an innovative, exemplary city for the economic cooperation of the two sides. On the premise of controllable risks, Chongqing will take a page from international regulatory rules to further simplify cross-border RMB business procedures for high-quality enterprises, and to facilitate cross-border financial services. The city will encourage Singaporean financial institutions to participate in the pilot work of qualified domestic investment enterprises (QDIEs) in Chongqing. It also will study and carry out pilot projects to facilitate the settlement and payment of foreign exchange income for direct investment, external debt, and overseas listed capital projects.

As for market connectivity, efforts will be made to boost cooperation between SGX and Chongqing Share Transfer Center to cultivate listed companies to list in Singapore and to promote the development of the multi-level capital market in Chongqing. The city will support Singapore and Chongqing Financial Asset Exchange to strengthen the cooperation, to explore the listed transaction of factoring assets and financial leasing assets packages related to the BRI and ILSTC and expand financing channels for small and medium-sized enterprises. Furthermore, it will actively take cross-border settlement and investment and financing facilitation measures, and learn from exceptional Singaporean experience in exchange system design and financial development, thus enhancing the internationalization level of Chongqing Oil and Gas Trading Center.