(Yicai Global) Jan. 30 -- Shanghai will bring in more free trade accounts as it looks to make financing easier for companies in the city.

The city has already opened 70,000 such accounts to raise more than CNY1.1 trillion (USD173 billion) since 2014, the Shanghai Observer cited Ying Yong, mayor, as saying at a press briefing yesterday.

Free trade accounts were a major reform of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone. Only companies and overseas institutions within the zone could set up such accounts until last year, when policy changes permitted eligible tech startups to create them, Ying said, but he did not say what type of companies would be able to snap up the new wave of accounts.

Residents and financial institutions in the free trade zone have been able to set up accounts that allow them to freely convert yuan to foreign currencies since 2014.

Shanghai will also look into developing a free trade port under an arrangement with the central government, he added.