Shanghai aims to increase its financial power

Shanghai officials released a detailed guideline recently for further opening-up in the financial sector, responding to President Xi Jinping's speech at last month's Boao Forum for Asia.

Xi said during his speech on April 10 that China will carry out a number of important policies to open up further. The next day, Yi Gang, governor of the central bank, announced 12 opening-up policies, five of which will be implemented over the next few months.

According to Shanghai's financial services office, efforts will be made in fields including banking, securities, insurance, financial markets and free trade accounts, as well as touching on entry policies for bank-card clearing institutions and nonbank payment institutions.