(Yicai Global) June 8 -- Shanghai has given more details about its plan to launch a trading market for products issued by insurers that insure other insurers.

Li Yunze, head of China’s National Financial Regulatory Administration, and Gong Zheng, mayor of Shanghai, announced the launch of the reinsurance international board during the 14th Lujiazui Forum that kicked off today.

Meanwhile, the local arm of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and the financial regulatory administration revealed a document of 22 measures to be taken to promote the eastern city to become a global reinsurance hub. Some of those moves include improving infrastructure and institutional systems, strengthening product supply and innovation ability, as well as attracting talent.

The new type of digital trading system for reinsurance products will integrate transactions, clearing, and settlement. The focal area will be Shanghai’s Lingang New Area as the country will guide companies to establish their reinsurance businesses in the free trade zone close to Shanghai's Pudong International Airport. Lingang will facilitate reinsurance businesses’ cross-border settlement and expenditures on the mainland to reduce their costs and processing time.

Market insiders said that activating the reinsurance international board will spur a high level of opening up, which will help institutions benchmark against the matured international market. It should enlarge the cross-border reinsurance market and assist Chinese firms in getting more deeply involved in managing global risks, as well as create new room for partnerships.

The two-day 14th Lujiazui Forum is co-hosted by the municipal government, the People’s Bank of China, the NAFR, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

Editors: Xu Wei, Emmi Laine