Shanghai unveils financial blueprint

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SHANGHAI: Shanghai has laid down ambitious plans to strengthen its position as an international financial centre. According to a blueprint unveiled yesterday for the 11th Five Year Plan period (2006-10), the city will capture at least 25 percent of the nation's funding business, including stocks and bonds. The plan highlights four main elements in the development framework, the first of which involves establishing a world-renowned financial market system in which both domestic and foreign investors can participate. By the end of 2010, Shanghai's monetary market is expected to have a trading volume of 80 trillion yuan. At the end of October this year the figure was 46 trillion yuan, and last year the figure was 34 trillion. According to the blueprint, authorities also hope to build Shanghai Futures Exchange Market into one of the world's top 10. The second task is creating a diversified banking system in which both domestic and foreign financial institutions with international competitiveness can grow together. By 2010, the deposit balance for Shanghai's banks will reach 4.5 trillion yuan. The figure was 2.3 trillion yuan by the end of last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Loan balance will reach 3.2 trillion yuan in 2010, jumping from last year's more than 1.6 trillion yuan, according to reports by Xinhua News Agency.