The Shanghai Municipal Government has issued a notice on several opinions regarding the deepening of Shanghai's development as a global asset management center, which will take effect from June 1, 2026.

On June 2nd, Ge Qing, Director of the Macroprudential Management Department at the People's Bank of China Shanghai Headquarters, stated at a press briefing that building a global asset management center is a crucial lever for elevating Shanghai's status as an international financial hub and represents a significant application scenario for the internationalization of the renminbi. On one hand, a mature and open asset management market can attract global capital to allocate to RMB-denominated assets, continuously strengthening the currency's functions in pricing, investment, and reserves, thereby solidifying the market foundation for RMB internationalization. On the other hand, the increasing variety of cross-border RMB usage scenarios and the ongoing improvement of cross-border financial infrastructure can further enhance the global appeal and competitiveness of Shanghai's asset management market.

Ge Qing indicated that the next steps will focus on implementing various policies, continuously deepening financial opening-up, steadily expanding financial market connectivity, constantly optimizing cross-border financial services, and further enhancing the global and pricing attractiveness of RMB assets.

Key Action Areas

The first area involves continuously smoothing two-way channels for cross-border investment and financing, implementing various facilitation policies for cross-border investment and financing, broadening the pathways for overseas institutions to invest in domestic RMB assets, and optimizing cross-border fund settlement processes.

The second area focuses on continuously enriching the supply of RMB assets, steadily expanding the scale of panda bonds, improving the product system for specialized instruments like green RMB bonds, and creating a diversified and differentiated RMB asset matrix to meet the allocation, hedging, and return needs of different types of global investors.

The third area centers on institutional opening-up and innovation, exploring innovations in offshore financial services, promoting the development of free trade zone offshore bonds, and establishing a new high ground for institutional openness.

The fourth area aims to deeply serve the real economy, guiding more cross-border funds to be precisely directed towards key sectors such as technological innovation, green development, and high-end manufacturing. This will create a deep integration and mutual reinforcement between RMB asset allocation and the development of the real economy.