Shanghai believes that making the yuan a more global currency is key to achieving its aim to become an international financial and shipping hub, Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng said Wednesday.

"The measures Shanghai has taken in financial innovation and its efforts to become a more sophisticated financial market are all centered on boosting the position of the yuan and promoting its use in many business and financial transactions," Han said in a Bloomberg News interview yesterday in Shanghai.

The State Council in March said it planned to make the city a major international finance and shipping hub by 2020 to take advantage of China's economic strength and the yuan's global position.

In July, Shanghai was among five Chinese mainland cities to participate in a trial allowing approved companies to settle international trade transactions in yuan.

The Shanghai government is continuing to work on policies to make the city an international financial center with more innovations, Han said.

City government supports the Shanghai Stock Exchange's effort to attract overseas companies to float shares on the local bourse. The British bank HSBC is vying to become one of the first foreign companies to go public on China's mainland and plans to raise US$7.3 billion here on a new international board.

Shanghai is also planning a program to allow overseas banks incorporated in the city to issue yuan bonds on the mainland to raise capital.

Han also said in the interview that Shanghai will take steps to cool the city's real-estate market as local housing prices are "too high."

City government will increase the supply of land for property development and speed up construction of affordable housing for low-income families in the second half of this year, he said.

(Shanghai Daily August 6, 2009)