Wang Hua, Lujiazui administration head (R), and Jing Xiandong, president of Ant Financial, Alibaba's financial arm, announce the opening of the Lujiazui Internet finance Association, in Pudong, Shanghai, on March 1. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The China Financial Information Center in the Lujiazui area, Pudong New District of Shanghai, held an inaugural ceremony for Lujiazui Internet Finance Association, on March 1, and announced that its goal is to better oversee the area's Internet finance companies and encourage a more disciplined management.

The idea for the association came from the growing importance of Internet finance in Lujiazui's operations and it consists of local Internet finance companies, with 53 for its first members, including Alipay, the online payment arm of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba, and Lufax, a Chinese peer-to-peer lender and broker.

After Lujiazui announced new measures to back the Internet finance industry, back in October 2014, the area saw more than 300 Internet finance companies moving in, including online financial arms of the Wanda and Haier groups, and the small loan firms of NetEase and the Shanda Group. Officials have said that having such an association will help attract even more of these companies and help the healthy development of the industry, and will add vitality to Lujiazui as a financial hub, and help it create a better business environment for emerging finance institutions.