Beijing vows to develop modern financial system

The Annual Conference of Financial Street Forum 2024 kicks off in Beijing on October 18. (Photo: Courtesy of Organizing Committee of Financial Street Forum)

As an important destination for global financial investment, Beijing will move faster to develop a vibrant modern financial system and enhance its capacity to serve national financial management functions, Yin Li, secretary of the Communist Party of China Beijing Municipal Committee, said at the Annual Conference of Financial Street Forum 2024, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

More than 500 guests from over 30 countries and regions around the world gathered in Beijing's financial street during the three-day forum held from Friday to Sunday to discuss financial openness and cooperation. The event once again highlighted Beijing's increasingly important role as a modern financial hub.

Speaking at the forum, Yin highlighted several important tasks ahead for Beijing to promote its financial functions and capacity, including further improving the capital city's financial services system, and supporting the functioning of international financial facilities in the city.

Efforts will be made to build a financial market system that is conducive to innovation and to support the Beijing Stock Exchange in deepening its reform, Yin said.

Other works include creating a vibrant financial development ecosystem, expanding institutional opening-up in the financial sector, improving investor protection mechanisms, and exploring the facilitation of cross-border investment and financing.

He also mentioned the importance of maintaining a safe and stable financial environment and improving the financial supervision system.

In recent years, the value added of Beijing's financial sector has accounted for around 20 percent of the city's GDP and contributed approximately 20 percent to fiscal revenue, said Li Jingxiang, deputy head of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Local Financial Regulation, demonstrating the robust growth momentum of Beijing's financial industry.

In the first half of this year, the value added to Beijing's financial industry reached 438 billion yuan ($61.6 billion), a year-on-year increase of 5.8 percent. Currently, the total assets of financial institutions in Beijing exceed 220 trillion yuan, accounting for about half of the national total, with the number of financial entities and employees also ranking first in the country.