(Yicai) Oct. 16 -- Shanghai will go on expanding its high-level opening-up and further its efforts to create a first-class market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized business environment to attract international financial institutions and talents, according to the city's executive vice mayor.

Shanghai will continue to steadily expand institutional opening-up in terms of rules, regulations, management, and standards, and stimulate market vitality through higher-quality reform and innovation, Wu Wei said at the opening ceremony of the 2025 Shanghai Global Asset Management Forum today.

Wu noted that Shanghai will also strive to create a more relaxed and dynamic industry development ecosystem for all types of financial institutions by strengthening communication with financial regulators and industry associations.

Shanghai has been steadily advancing its development into an international financial hub and a global asset management center in recent years, achieving remarkable results, Wu pointed out.

The ability of Shanghai to allocate financial resources has been better than ever, Wu said, adding that the number of local licensed financial institutions increased by 7.4 percent to 1,782 as of the end of last year from 2019, including 555 foreign institutions.

Turnover on Shanghai's financial markets jumped 13 percent to CNY2.96 quadrillion (USD415.77 trillion) in the nine months ended Sept. 30 from a year earlier, according to Wu.

Some 75 public fund management institutions operated within the jurisdiction of Shanghai as of June 30, managing 5,129 public funds totaling CNY12.74 trillion (USD1.79 trillion), with the city ranking first by all figures nationwide, Wu said. There were also 3,701 private fund managers registered in the city, managing 40,500 funds totaling CNY5.10 trillion (USD715.5 billion), also topping the country, he added.

In addition, Shanghai is a place where foreign institutions are highly concentrated, Wu stressed. Such banks with local headquarters account for half of the total in the Chinese mainland, he pointed out.

Joint venture fund management companies and foreign insurers in Shanghai also make up about half of all such institutions on the mainland, Wu noted, adding that all top 10 global asset management institutions by asset size have already started business in the city.

Shanghai is also actively exploring financial innovation, Wu said. For example, industry associations have initiated the setup of industry-standard guidelines on the Application of Artificial Intelligence Models in Asset Management to promote the application of AI tech in equity investment, securities investment, and others, he said.

The organizers of the Shanghai Global Asset Management Forum, which was jointly hosted by Yicai and Bank of China, also released this year's version of the Shanghai Guidebook for Overseas Asset Managers compiled by the Shanghai Asset Management Association.

Editor: Martin Kadiev