After more than a decade of development, CBDs in Beijing and Shanghai have taken firm shape.

Located in Eastern Beijing's Chaoyang District, construction on the capital city's CBD started in 1993 after approval from the State Council.

To date, the construction area has surpassed 10 million square metres, of which 50 per cent is office buildings; 25 per cent is apartments; and the remainder for commercial, cultural, medical and entertainment facilities.

Official statistics show the number of the enterprises in Beijing CBD is about 3,000, with 457 financial corporations, including over 150 foreign-funded banks, insurance and securities companies and agencies, as well as nearly 200 domestic and foreign law firms, accounting agencies and consultancy companies.

"It (Beijing CBD) has become home for 80 per cent of the overseas financial institutions in the capital," said Fan Boyuan, Beijing's vice-mayor.

"To further promote and accelerate the development of the areas, the municipal government initiated plans to re-invest 3 billion yuan (US$361 million) in the coming five years to upgrade infrastructure facilities and improve various services," said Fan.

A series of preferential policies for financial enterprises were announced during the fourth session of the Beijing International Business Festival, held from October 9 to 12 and sponsored by Beijing CBD.

Besides tax breaks and real-estate subsidies, which aim to help the financial operators reduce operation costs, newcomers can take advantage of start-up funds, set up by the administrative committee and valued at 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million).

The Beijing CBD administrator also promised to strengthen communication with financial institutions and improve services to give accurate, updated and complete information, along with streamlined and efficient administrative services.

On October 9, the Beijing Financial Advisory Group -- composed of domestic and foreign bankers, entrepreneurs and experts -- formally presented suggestions and offered opinions to the government.

Fan added that Beijing wants to grasp the opportunity offered by the Mainland/Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), signed in June, to actively lure more small- and medium-sized banks from Hong Kong.

Shanghai's Lujiazui CBD, located in Pudong New Area, is a powerful counterpart of Beijing, due to the city's long history as China's financial centre.

From 1990 to 2000, Shanghai pumped in 130 billion yuan (US$15.66 billion) on Lujiazui CBD; and its flexible policies and conducive financial atmosphere have been a lure to domestic and overseas financial operators.

"In the 1990s, Lujiazui Group Corporation was set up to be responsible for the exploration and management of the area in line with market principles, and given flexibility for development and management which facilitated investors' operations," said Yang Jianrong, deputy governor of Shanghai Pudong New Area.

By the end of 2002, Lujiazui CBD was home to 130 financial institutions, of which 56 are foreign financial corporations and nine foreign insurance companies

The outstanding deposits and loans of the 130 financial institutions exceeded 1.1 trillion yuan (US$132 billion), and 30 foreign banks have been authorized to conduct renminbi business. Also, more than 20 multinationals have their regional headquarters in Lujiazui.

Experts and insiders believe that the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and the Shanghai World Expo will inject more dynamism to the two CBDs, which would help them catch up with global counterparts, such as New York, London, Tokyo, Frankfurt and Hong Kong.

(China Daily HK Edition October 28, 2003)