Wealth of opportunity found in new industry

Along with their increasing personal incomes, Chinese people are now more concerned with issues relating to wealth management, including wise ways to invest and how to increase the value of their portfolio.

According to Forbes Magazine's Chinese edition, the personal wealth of Chinese residents surpassed 110 trillion yuan ($16.3 trillion) in 2015. However, they lack effective wealth management skills and opportunities.

The magazine said that bank savings and real estate investment are the major wealth management methods chosen in China, with less than 20 percent of wealth directed into investment channels such as the stock markets, mutual funds and securities.

In contrast to the stability of increasing personal bank savings, companies in the country face a lack of fundraising channels, especially small and medium-sized enterprises.

Qingdao, a Shandong coastal city, is looking to solve the problem by transitioning into the wealth management business.

It established a wealth management pilot zone in February 2014, aiming to guide personal wealth into the real economy.

"The purpose of wealth management is to transfer people's deposits into efficient investments, and to optimize investment structures for individuals and businesses, so that they can gain greater added value," said Guo Shuqing, governor of Shandong province.

Guo is an experienced financial expert and was chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission before he became the governor of Shandong in 2013.

He was also one of the chief designers and advocates of the Qingdao wealth management pilot zone.

Qingdao has been expanding the scale of its financial market since the pilot zone was established two years ago.

At the end of 2015, the city's wealth management industry amounted to 681.62 billion yuan, an increase of 96 percent compared to February 2014.

The fledgling but successful wealth management industry has played an important role, helping Qingdao residents to better manage their wealth and local industries to raise funds needed for their development.

According to the Qingdao city government, a total of 4,307 fixed-asset investment projects were launched in the city from January to July, involving a total capital input of 420.59 billion yuan, an increase of 25.1 percent and 13.7 percent from the same period of last year, respectively.

A large part of the investment went to key local industries including hightech, manufacturing and modern services.

Driven by the wealth management sector, Qingdao's financial industry as a whole has been further expanded.

In the first half of this year, Qingdao's 42 companies were listed on domestic or overseas stock markets.