Beijing to further open up financial sector to foreign investment

BEIJING - Beijing welcomes international financial institutions to set up exclusively foreign-owned financial enterprises or financial joint ventures in 2018 to further open up the capital's financial sectors, according to a government report released at the ongoing local parliamentary session.

The move will help Beijing build itself into an international financial management center, said Huo Xuewen, head of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Financial Work.

The Chinese capital supports leading domestic and overseas financial firms to cooperate with Beijing firms in financial technology and security sectors.

Financial firms are also encouraged to establish angel funds, venture capital funds and private equity funds in Beijing.

The added value of Beijing's financial sectors reached nearly 341 billion yuan ($53 billion) in the first three quarters of 2017, accounting for 17.4 percent of the city's gross domestic output.

By the end of 2017, Beijing had 42 foreign-funded financial legal entities.