Many advantages to staying in the zone

Chen Yunxian, deputy governor of Guangdong, addresses the Conference for Innovative Integration of Finance, Technology and Industry.

When it was founded in early July 2007, the Guangdong High-Tech Service Zone for Financial Institutions was positioned as a "backup service base for the modern financial industry that reaches out to Asia-Pacific".

Five years later and the zone is home to nearly 100 companies and institutions, including not only back office business processing centers, such as data processing centers and call centers, but also knowledge-intensive financial back office institutions, such as financial product R&D centers and a financial information consulting center.

The management of the zone believes that many things can be achieved in the Asia-Pacific with financial support, and the financial industry will play a major role in the region's future development.

In 2010, the zone held the first forum on the integrated development of the financial and technological industries and was the first to come up with the development idea of "persisting in back office, exploring front office" and "integrating technology and industries".

It then started building a private equity and venture capital cluster and the Guangdong-Hong Kong Financial Technological Park.

Chen Yunxian, vice-governor of Guangdong, noted that the key to making a success of the "industrial finance" of Guangdong lies in promoting the integrated development of the financial and technological industries.

According to Deng Weigen, Party chief of Nanhai district of Foshan, the zone has a competitive edge in building "industrial finance".

The city of Foshan ranks fifth nationwide in terms of industrial scale. And the zone, located in the center of the Guangzhou-Foshan circle, very early on made explorations into the integration of finance and industries.

In 2011, the total industrial output value in Foshan reached 1.74 trillion yuan ($279 billion), with more than 1 trillion yuan coming from the private sector.

The city is also actively strategic emerging industries, such as new materials, services, environmental protection and new energy vehicles.

The deposit balance of its residents in the first half of this year reached nearly 500 billion yuan, leading other cities in the province.

The city is focusing on its high-tech zones as platforms to create a model area for the integrated and innovative development of the finance, technology and industries, and it is encouraging the development of all types of equity investment and financial leasing, pilot intellectual property financing and technology insurance.

Combined drives

The management of the zone believes that developing the financial back office industry means not only data and call centers, but also "the effective gathering of all the resources of the financial industry and the cultivation of the atmosphere for financial innovations".

The zone will introduce the back office headquarters or business headquarters of some large and influential financial institutions. It will also encourage those financial companies that are already established to turn their back office departments into independent institutions.

Attracting investment will be another focus. The annual Conference for Innovative Integration of Financing, Technology and Industry aims to become a bridge between capital and industries.

In addition, research organizations, equity and intellectual property trading markets and technical financing institutions are also working to promote the real economy of Guangdong.

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 11/23/2012 page12)