Since 1990s, Dalian started developing its finance sector as an important part of its city. It achieved a lot of success in the reforming and opening-up of its finance sector. A finance service system had taken an initial shape on banks, insurance, securities, futures and trust with the improvement of its function, its efficiency, and its ecological environment. It has become the first creative insurance city on a trial basis, serving as the most developed city for its finance and the trade service sector in Northeast China. It is awarded the Top Ten Ecological City for Finance.

Concentration of finance service & its radiation in Dalian

By the end of 2006, 71 financial institutions, including the branches, and 14 national commercial banks were setting up their branches or offices in Dalian. Its estimated asset has amounted to 55.19 billion RMB. The bank deposit was 39.75 billion RMB, while its loans were 29.75 billion RMB with 40, 000 finance workers working there in Dalian. Bank of China, Bank for Import and Export and other domestic and foreign finance organizations set up their offices at provincial level or management headquarters in the Northeast China. Dalian Commerical Bank was renamed Dalian Bank, and it got permission to set up its branch in Tianjin, becoming the third bank to set up its branches in other provinces. Because of all these, the asset quality improved. The non-performing ratio was lowered by 7.81% with the balance of 23.23billion RMB.

The financial markets play a fundamental role in the distribution of resources. With the steady development of the currency market, bill markets become an important channel for the temporary capital- raising. In 2006,the amount of drafts by financial organizations was120.9 billion RMB,and the discount on drafts was 146 billion RMB. Investment in securities are enhancing with the strengthening of its capital-raising capacity.There were 26 listed companies,in which 19 are listed onshore and the amount reached 61.17 billion RMB,and the rasing capital was 10.8billion RMB.The volume for securities in 2006 was 198.9 billion RMB,taking up 2.5% of the whole country.The insurance market developed quickly.The revenue of insurance premium in 2006 was 6.49 billion RMB with the ratio of 2.5%,the average per capita was 1141 RMB, playing a leading role in the three provinces in Northeast China.The market for foreign currency is expanding. In 2006.the settlement of exchanges was 18.71 billion USD. Futures market in Dalian became a main component in the whole country. Dalian Commodity Exchange is one of the three commodity exchanges in China. In 2006, its turnover futures was 224.1million and the amount was 5220 billion,taking up 54% and 25% respectively, placing itself first place in Asia and second in the world of soybean and corn market. The finance infrastructure in Dalian is excellent. Systems such as Bill System for Selection,Payment System for Big Amounts function very well, and these systems improved the efficiency of liquidation and turnover. With the enriched payment methods, the network for bank cards gradually became better. In 2006,there were 15 card issuers in Dalian with the issuing of 13.8 million debit cards,and there were 5, 608 traders and 7, 958 POS machines. Credit information from both the individuals and the enterprises are linked together in the whole country. In 2006,the loan information from enterprises amounted to 25, 000,and the credit information from the individuals was 860 thousand. All the data shown that the social integrity made new progress.

The financial industry is developing with a quicker pace as the financial market here in Dalian opens wider. As the first financial city open to the whole country, Dalian became a main zone in Northeast China for the foreign-invested financial institutions. By the end of 2006,19 foreign banks and 2 foreign insurance companies were starting businesses or setting up its branches or offices in Dalian.5 foreign banks were given the approval to handle RMB business, with 3 foreign-funded banks handling the foreign exchange businesses. Dalian served as the center for foreign exchanges and balance. The foreign exchange rate,together with the total amount for international income and expenses took up 2/3 or above. The financial centers here in Dalian became delegations for 4000 banks from more than 150 regions and countries, and IMF (International Monetary Fund) set up its Training Base for Programmes and Projects in Dalian. The financial trade kept developing in Dalian.It had lots of advantages in terms of Human Resource and Industry Environment for software and information outsourcing.The information services were centered in Dalian to attract foreign funds.The backgrounds of the financial service centers from the Transnational Banks and Transnational Corporations,namely Citibank,Fidelity Funds,and GE were established in Dalian.

New opportunities for further opening-up of the financial services in Dalian

The development and opening-up of the financial service sectors in Dalian is in a new stage. It is determined by two important factors.First,the urbanization and the construction of bases for new industries in Dalian are quickening. Some apparent changes are taking place in the structures of the economic development and the international trades. The opening-up, the structural adjustment of the industries, the different demands from the investment and the finance management in particular, had some new requirements for further development and opening-up of the financial service sector. First, the urbanization and income for city dwellers are improving. The economy in Dalian is increasing in a quick pace with the raising rate in double-digit over 16 years in succession. In 2006,The GDP reached 25.69 billion RMB;the income per capita exceeded 5453 USD and the available income for people in urban and rural areas amounted to 13350 RMB.The local economy in Dalian entering the current round of growth was stable. There were some important changes in the structures of the demands, and it found the exact expression in the functions of the services in the city, mainly the demands of the transportation, energy and environment from establishing the international airliners and new types of the industry bases; it also showed that the needs of living, travelling, communication and the management of personal wealth after purchasing basic necessities such as food and clothing, were on an increase. An important aspect was to promote the supply capacity of opening-up and creativity of finance to form the diversified finance means and services.

Second, by making good use of foreign funds and the increasing of the international trade, it has become an important link for international investment and trade. FDI(Foreign Direct Investment) attracted by Liaoning province occupied one half, that is 1/3 of the three provinces. By the end 0f 2006, there were more than 11000 foreign-funded companies, in which 79 belonged to Fortune 500.The foreign funds were 20billion USD. The increasing trade and investments require a better financial service system for the flowing of the commodities among nations. Thirdly, economy in Dalian entered the structural adjustment stage and the industries were upgrading. It is the important base for manufacturing of equipment, shipbuilding, electronic information and software. For one thing, these industries formed the relevance in the adjustment. For another,the research,the business service,and logistics are separated to reduce costs and to improve efficiency. These manufacturing services are advantageous for further development of the overall service industry.It will advance in the promotion of the industrial structure and the competitiveness of the city.

With the deepening of the international labour divisions, Dalian is taking advantage of the two resources in these two markets. With the furtherance of the interdependence among the countries in Northeast Asia, especially the correlation of the economy among China, Japan and Korea, the northeast zone of China is now taking part in the economic cooperation and in the opening-up period of the flowing of both commodities and components. Dalian has to upgrade its service and play an active role in the promotion of its economic cooperation in the Northeast China.