Shanghai's financial operations stable despite epidemic

SHANGHAI -- China's financial hub Shanghai has managed to keep its financial operations stable despite the recent resurgence of COVID-19.

Shanghai has about 1,700 financial institutions. In 2021, the total transaction value of Shanghai's financial market exceeded 2,500 trillion yuan (about $370 trillion), up over 10 percent year-on-year.

To tackle the challenges presented by the recent epidemic, financial markets and institutions have adopted closed-loop management and remote work to ensure normal and stable operations.

On the Shanghai Stock Exchange, basically all listed companies had completed the disclosure of their 2021 annual reports and first-quarter reports for 2022 despite the epidemic. The number of IPO filings on the Science and Technology Innovation Board increased from the same period in previous years.

On the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SFE), online trading ran normally. On its platform Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE), the combined turnover surged in April.

As an important indicator of investor participation, the open interest volume of commodity futures on the SFE remained stable, exceeding 7.3 million lots at the end of April, down slightly from the previous month. Meanwhile, the open interest volume on the INE, which has investors from more than 20 countries and regions, increased 5.3 percent over the same period.

"The gradual shift to full online operations of goods and financial services has helped us mitigate the impact of adverse factors such as short-term logistics contractions amid the epidemic," said Li Xing, general manager of Shanghai Longking International Co Ltd, adding the company has increased the use of online platforms to ease financial strains.

Since late March, Shanghai's market regulators have worked to advance the implementation of various financial policies. Shanghai's securities, futures and asset management associations have rolled out 11 measures to better address the financing and risk management needs of market entities.

During the epidemic, financial institutions in Shanghai maintained operations while increasing credit support to help companies resume work and tide over challenges posed by COVID-19.

Financing has also remained active in the financial markets in Shanghai.

In late April, the Export-Import Bank of China, a policy bank, issued special bonds worth 5 billion yuan to aid the anti-epidemic efforts and ensure daily supplies in Shanghai.

From April to May 17, some 20 new stocks debuted on the Shanghai bourse.