Advance the Construction and Development of Chengdu-Chongqing...
Title: Advance the Construction and Development of Chengdu-Chongqing Western International Financial Center
The co-construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing Western International Financial Center (WIFC) is an important part of the central government’s decision to build the Chengdu-Chongqing two-city economic circle. The joint construction of WIFC by the two cities will help provide high-level financial support for the construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing two-city economic circle，and facilitate the sound circulation of economy and finance. The two cities should take this as an opportunity to accelerate financial reform and opening up，continue to strengthen the capabilities in financial resource pooling and economic boosting，full play the leading role of open platform and open channel ，and advance the construction and development of the WIFC with no effort spared.
Sound Foundation and Broad Opportunity for WIFC Co-construction
Chengdu-Chongqing region has dominant advantage in western China in both of the economic and financial aggregates and the openness level. In 1993，Chengdu was positioned the financial center of southwest region by the State Council，and Chongqing was set as the financial center in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in 2009. Over the years，the two cities have made remarkable achievements in both economic and financial construction and open economic development. To look at the economic and financial aggregates，the GDP of Sichuan and Chongqing totaled 31.6 trillion yuan during the 13th Five-Year Plan period，accounting for 33.8% of the total GDP of the western region during the same period. Aggregate financing of the two regions grew by 7.2 trillion yuan，accounting for 34.7% of the total in western China. By the end of 2020，the balance of domestic and foreign currency loans in Sichuan and Chongqing was 11.3 trillion yuan，which is 33% of the total amount in the western region. In terms of open economy，during the 13th Five-Year Plan period，the total import and export of Sichuan and Chongqing accounted for 53.4% of the total amount in the western region with the number of 5.5 trillion yuan.
Chengdu-Chongqing region also leads the western part in terms of the systematic construction of financial institutions. According to statistics from PBOC Chengdu branch and PBOC Chongqing Operations Office，by the end of 2020，the number of banks，securities and insurance financial institutions in Chengdu and Chongqing totaled 498，among which 33 were foreign-funded financial institutions. New financial institutions，quasi financial institutions，private equity finance，financial intermediaries and financial service outsourcing have all developed rapidly. Several national or regional functional financial institutions are settled here，and the head office of a few banks have chosen these two cities to set up their back-office service centers，asset management centers，consumer finance centers and international business operation centers. The extending financial institution system provides diversified financial services for the western region.
Moreover，a series of financial innovation pilots are approved to be carried out in the Chengdu-Chongqing region. Under the support of the PBOC and SAFE，over 30 foreign exchange management and cross-border renminbi business innovation pilot projects，along with pilots on financial technology application，financial standard innovation，financial technology innovation supervision and digital renminbi application were approved to be carried out in this region during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. National Fin-tech Certification Center also landed in Chongqing. These innovative pilot projects effectively enriched and optimized the supply of financial policies，and provided strong support for the effective promotion of trade and investment facilitation and improvement of financial technology development level.
Chengdu-Chongqing region has also achieved significant results in providing financial support for constructions of open platforms. During recent years，the CPC Central Committee and the State Council have made unprecedented efforts to support the opening up of the Chengdu-Chongqing region. Various open platforms，such as the China-Singapore Chongqing Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity，pilot free trade zones，state-level new area，high-tech zones and comprehensive bonded zones have been set up in this region. The financial support for the construction of these platforms has also been advanced with remarkable success: the two-way financial opening up between China and Singapore is deepening，the China-Singapore Financial Summit has become an international platform for financial interconnection between 12 western provinces and cities and 10 ASEAN countries，and a total of 150 projects have been launched through the China-Singapore cross-border financing channel which as a total amounts to US$13.1 billion，with the average interest rate 1.03 percentage points lower than that in mainland China. The Sichuan and Chongqing Pilot Free Trade Zones have carried out over 10 pilot reforms and innovations in foreign exchange management，and most of the pilot policies have been gradually extended beyond the free trade zones.
To view from the need to build an international logistics hub，opportunities for the development of financial services，especially the cross-border financial service in this region would be huge. Years of development has endowed the Chengdu-Chongqing region with the geographical advantages to connect Europe and Asia and coordinate development between land and marine. In the east，overseas transport over the ocean and land could be realized through the waterway of Yangtze River and the railway passage along it. In the south，the new western land-sea corridor originated from Chongqing has been upgraded to a major strategic deployment. In the west，the China-Europe Railway Express project strengthens the relationship between the Chengdu-Chongqing region and the EU. In the north，the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor will be connected with the Chongqing-Manchuria-Russia line and the Chengdu-Europe Northern Line. Even in the midst of a pandemic shock，the development of open channels in Chengdu-Chongqing region has gained growth against trend: Chongqing opened 2,603 China-Europe Railway Express with a value of 90 billion yuan，which increased 70.8% and 64.5% year on year respectively. The Western New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor was launched and provided 4,295 freight services with a value of 13.32 billion yuan，which increased 91.2% and 33.3% year on year respectively.
Future Implementation Plan for WIFC Co-construction
While seeing the sound foundation and broad opportunities in WIFC co-construction，we should also realize that，compared to the eastern coastal areas such as the Yangtze River Delta and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area，there is still much to improve in the service of financial institutions，financial market system construction and financial innovation ability for the Chengdu-Chongqing region. By taking the financial system construction in the Yangtze River Delta and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as a standard，the Chengdu-Chongqing region should make more efforts to strengthen its advantages and improve its weakness based on the distinct geographic advantages and local economic characteristics，pushing the financial construction in the western region to a new level.
Continue to Strengthen the Financial Resource-pooling Capability
The increasingly rich financial institutional system in the Chengdu-Chongqing region provides diversified financial services to real economy development in west region. We need to keep improving the top-level design and mechanism during WIFC co-construction，closely follow the features of local real economy，and strive to create financial services with special characteristics. To be specific，we should: first，strengthen the financial services to foster advanced industrial clusters. Increase financial support for advanced manufacturing and strategic emerging industries，and promote open cooperation among high-level industries to build various industrial clusters that can influence and lead the development of the region. Second，enhance financial services for technological innovation. By leveraging the advantages of the Western (Chongqing) Science City，the Western (Chengdu) Science City and China (Mianyang) Science City，focus on serving the construction of a technological innovation platform，introduce domestic and foreign financial resources through multiple channels，and support the application of technological innovations in actual productivity. Third，strengthen financial services for infrastructure construction. Innovate investment and financing models and broaden their channels，and focus on supporting the construction of important infrastructures such as traffic，transportation，logistics，communications and energy. Fourth，strengthen financial services that may cultivate and expand the scale of market players. Support local deserving businesses to participate in domestic and foreign market. Help large multinational companies to set up regional headquarters plus functional institutions such as R&D and settlement in this region. Sixth，consolidate the policy support system. Constantly improve the linkage mechanism among fiscal，financial，tax，industrial and other policies to form an effective policy support system with local characteristics.
Continue to Enhance the Boosting Capability of the Financial Resources
Compared to the Yangtze River Delta and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area，Chengdu-Chongqing region lacks national or regional level financial market