Nansha will become the "financial bridgehead" of Greater Bay Area

Since 2017, Guangzhou Nansha has been permanent site of the International Finance Forum. This year, experts and scholars focused on the theme of “ Nansha in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area”, and around-table dialogue was held around the theme of “ Joining the Future of the Greater Bay Area and the Prospect of Financial Cooperation between Nansha, Hong Kong and Macao” to provide advice and suggestions for the future development of Nansha.

 The former director of the Financial Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Antony Leung, believes that Nansha and Hong Kong can complement each other in many respects. The permanent settlement of the IFF in Nansha will undoubtedly accelerate the process of financial factor circulation and integration, and ultimately achieve better complementation.

Global financial politicians and experts bring the world's latest financial information to the forum. [Photo/gznsnews.com]

In recent years, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao have continuously strengthened and deepened financial cooperation. As of the beginning of 2018, there were more than ten Hong Kong and Macao banks with about 30 branches in 21 prefecture-level cities in Guangdong Province, accounting for 56% of the total number of foreign-funded banks in Guangdong Province. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is becoming a key area and platform for the connection and transformation of the mainland financial system and the international financial system.

“Nansha has great potential in terms of financial construction in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.” Cheng Dongyue, director of the Financial Leasing Research Center of Zhejiang University, said that Nansha's advantages in location and other factors in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area are irreplaceable and can play a greater role in the future.

In terms of financial cooperation with Hong Kong and Macao, as of the end of September 2018, there were 1,496 Hong Kong and Macao-based financial institutions in Nansha, accounting for 25% of its total. Cheng Dongyue believes that the development of the financial service industry requires a solid foundation for economic development, and the development of the financial service industry has also promoted the development of the real economy in the Greater Bay Area.

In this regard, Nansha has gradually developed a modern financial service system featuring financial leasing, equity investment, commercial factoring, and shipping finance, with the orientation of serving the real economy and accelerating the development of innovative finance. “Nansha can develop the cross-border leasing industry in countries along the route,” Cheng Dongyue suggested.

“The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in the next decade is a concentrated area for early investment,” said Li Zhu, founder of the Innoangel Fund. Li is very optimistic about the development prospects of Nansha Finance. “There is an innovative ecology here, and it will continue to gather educational institutions and medical institutions in the future.”

He suggested that Nansha should further gather young investment institutions to discover and cultivate more innovative industries. He said that Nansha should take the initiative in terms of technical discourse power and financial discourse power. “ Nansha has the super position advantage of the free trade zone and the state-level new area. Under the supervision of financial laws, it can do some experiments in financial technology to create a highland of financial technology.”

How to strengthen the flow of capital, talents, technology and other production factors in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area by financial means has become a hot topic for on-site experts. 

“Nansha is the 'bridgehead' for the external economic factors and innovative concepts of the Greater Bay Area flowing into the mainland. It is the 'first taste of the soup' in Guangdong's absorption of international financial resources and governance concepts,” said Sun Xiaoqin, a doctor of economics at Sun Yat-Sen University, who believes that Nansha shoulders the task of attracting entities, funds, talents, and concepts. She suggested that Nansha district should accelerate the formation of financial institutions, formats, models and talents through pilot models and negative list models.