Opening service sector to foreign firms in FTZ

Further opening the service industry to foreign capital will be one of the key missions for the Shanghai free trade zone, said Wang Xinkui, counselor of Shanghai municipal people's government at a forum held by OCBC Bank from Singapore.

Wang is one of the key composers of the Shanghai free trade zone plan. He also said that it is likely that foreign banks will be further marching into the local market in the free trade zone in the form of financial products.

"The central government hopes that the example and experiences of Shanghai free trade zone will be duplicated outside the 28-square-kilometer area. It means that once the experiment in this zone is successful, these financial products will be able to trade outside the zone. Once this is realized, foreign banks will be enjoying a lot of advantages," said Wang.

Pan Yingli, head of the Finance Department of Economics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University said: "The restructuring of the economy is of course indispensable from the high-end manufacturing industry. But the modern service industry, including the financial industry, will play a key role of doubt."

In terms of financial businesses to be carried out in the free trade zone, Pan said that authorities will change their management method from the previous strict examination and approval in the first place to strict supervision of the process.

Apart from the reform in investment management system and improving the business environment in the Shanghai free trade zone, making trade more convenient, including supervision, management and quarantine, will be another important goal, according to Wang.