Liangjiang New Area in Chongqing has made great strides in the development of its financial center in the last five years. A total of 30 major financial projects settled in the district on June 15, involving 28.1 billion yuan ($4.5 billion) of investment. The projects covered fields of funding, micro loans, financial factoring, trading and financing leases.

Present at the signing ceremony as representatives of the 30 projects on June 15 were Huang Qifan, mayor of Chongqing; Weng Jieming, member of Chongqing Standing Committee; Ling Yueming, director of Liangjiang New Area's management committee; and Liu Wei, vice mayor of Chongqing.

Huang said that Liangjiang is an "opened-up highland in China's inland". The projects are expected to help shape an industrial worth 100 billion yuan in the near future. Huang said he believed that the projects would play an important role in transforming Liangjiang into a capital market and financial development center in Chongqing and boosting the development of strategic emerging industries.

Tang Zongwei, executive deputy director of the district's management committee, said that finance industry is the core of the modern economy and the focus of Liangjiang's development. For the past five years, the district has focused on building a financial center in the upper reaches of Yangtze River and creating innovation in financial development.

As of June this year, the number of financial institutions in the district had climbed from a previous figure of 245 to 507. This accounts for 35 percent of all financial institutions in Chongqing. The district has 422 innovative financial institutions, constituting 40 percent of the total number. The number of equity investment-based financial institutions reached 239, accounting for half of the city's total. The number of listed companies shot up from 13 to 24, with equity value accounting for more than 60 percent in Chongqing.

A small Internet loan company, recently established in the area, was funded to the tune of $50 million by Miui's wholly-owned overseas facility. It is expected to bring in 9 million customers and offer 2 billion yuan in loan balance by the end of 2015. The company has set its sights on reaching 80 million customers by offering 75 billion yuan in loan balance and creating 15 billion yuan in operation revenue by 2017. This project is Miui's move to transform itself from an independent researcher and developer of smart products to China's fourth largest Internet investment company.

Additionally, Haier Group, a large-scale global home appliance brand, will begin its first financial factoring business in Liangjiang. The group's financial factoring company has 500 million yuan in registered capital available, which will increase to 2 billion yuan this year. The new company is expected become one of the financial factoring giants of China, with the help of Haier's rich resources.

A total of 30 companies sign cooperation agreements with the Liangjiang New Area in Chongqing on June 15. [Photo/liangjiang.gov.cn]

Edited by Jacob Hooson