It will take three to five years for Shanghai to become a leading global financial technology hub, according to a new action plan released by the city government on Friday.
Financial technology, or fintech, refers to the innovation of products and services provided by the traditional financial sector through various technological means for greater efficiency and reduced operating costs.
As a growing trend in the industry, fintech is based on a series of technological innovations such as big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence, which can be applied to financial areas such as payment, financing and retail banking, as defined by the Financial Stability Board.
“There is fierce competition in the financial sector globally, so it is high time for Shanghai to enhance its global competitiveness in the fintech field,” said Gu Ping, deputy director of the financial committee office of the Shanghai Committee of the Communist Party of China.
“The action programme launched today is precisely a concrete initiative to achieve this goal,” Gu said.
The new plan includes 31 initiatives in seven areas.
These include studying the establishment of an expert advisory committee for building a financial technology center in Shanghai, building a large-scale financial corpus database in Shanghai, building a big data innovation laboratory for health insurance, and promoting interoperability and data sharing between health insurance and commercial insurance.
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Fintech helps businesses, business owners and consumers better manage their financial operations.
At the same time, a “regulatory sandbox” mechanism for fintech will be established to provide regulatory guidance and policy support for fintech innovation.
The government will also set up a special fund for Shanghai’s fintech sector, as well as a training base for fintech talents, under the Shanghai Fintech Innovation Program, to increase international exchanges and cooperation.
“Shanghai is already a prime base for fintech companies and talents, as the central bank has made great efforts to promote the development of fintech in Shanghai,” said Shi Jiandong, director of the science and technology division of the second financial services department at the Shanghai headquarters of the People’s Bank of China.
In 2017, the central bank set up a fintech committee.
It also published fintech development plans for 2019-2021 and 2022-2025.
“In recent years, more international exchanges through large-scale events such as the Bund Conference have promoted the flow of information and technological innovation across different sectors and industries, making Shanghai increasingly dynamic and internationally attractive,” Gu said.
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The September Bund conference, initiated in 2020, focused on innovative technologies and sustainability.