The prosperity of Beijing's financial sector propelled the city's name into a global ranking again. According to the recently released Xinhua International Financial Centers Development Index Report, Beijing comes in 7th out of 45 international financial centers. As Beijing Municipality's primary industrial pillar, finance plays a key role in the capital city's high-quality economic development.

The city also boasts stable development in the market system of the financial industry, with continuous improvement of its service capability in finance, as evidenced by the establishment of Beijing Stock Exchange and the efforts to build a high-quality market system. Beijing's banking industry has also enjoyed robust growth, with securities and futures institutions prospering. Better protection is provided against risks due to the progress in insurance services. As constant improvements are made to the market structure optimization functions of the Beijing Stock Exchange and the New Third Board (National Equities Exchange and Quotations), the two institutions maintain success in serving direct financing, with equity financing amounting to CNY 39.928 billion, up more than 40 percent year-on-year.

As for service quality, Beijing Municipality has given full play to its advantages as a national financial management center, actively serving and guaranteeing the implementation of major national financial strategies and policies. As a part of efforts to serve the real economy, Beijing has paid considerable attention to key areas and weak links of economic development, such as green and low-carbon development, high-end manufacturing, private small and micro firms, and rural revitalization. The city is expected to further improve service quality in finance during the 14th Five-Year Plan period as the development of the Integrated National Demonstration Zone for Opening up the Services Sector and the China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone ("Two Zones") advances.

In terms of industrial support and the general environment, Beijing also ranks among the leaders, taking 7th place for both of the corresponding sub-indexes. The value added of the city's financial industry reached CNY 587.68 billion in the first three quarters of 2022, an increase of 6.0 percent. Its financial industry has made a significant contribution to the bounce back following the COVID-19 pandemic, relieving the burden on enterprises and stabilizing the economy.

(Source: Beijing Daily)