Financial innovation award highlights city successes

Shanghai announced the winners of the 2021-2022 Shanghai Financial Innovation Award on Friday, which recognized 76 projects in various fields, such as serving national strategies, focusing on technological innovation, supporting the real economy and practicing financial inclusion, and showcasing the achievements and level of the city's financial innovation.

Among the winning projects, the "Bond Connect Southbound Trading Service" project, led by China Foreign Exchange Trade System (National Interbank Funding Center), won the grand prize for achieving bidirectional connectivity of Bond Connect trading, expanding the channels for domestic investors to allocate assets in the international financial market, and enhancing the level of bidirectional opening of China's financial market.

Other notable projects include the "Infrastructure Public Offering REITs Pilot" project, launched by the Shanghai Stock Exchange, an important measure to implement the major decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council on risk prevention, deleveraging, stabilizing investment and filling shortcomings, and has a demonstration and promotion effect on revitalizing stock assets, promoting high-quality development of infrastructure and serving national strategies.

The "Crude Oil Options Listing and Opening" project of the Shanghai International Energy Exchange, meanwhile, is one of the first batch of commodity options priced in RMB and open to foreign investors, and the first option product open to foreign investors in Shanghai, which is of great significance for promoting the construction and high-level opening of China's crude oil futures market.

The winning projects also reflect the characteristics of Shanghai's financial innovation in serving technological innovation and the real economy, as well as improving the sense of gain of financial services for the people.

For example, the "Leading the Establishment of China Integrated Circuit Co-insurance Body to Serve the Development of National Strategic Industries" project, pioneered by the Shanghai branch of China Pacific Property Insurance Co Ltd, is a new insurance model for the integrated circuit industry in China, which gathers the strength of the insurance industry to ensure high-quality development of the industry.

The Shanghai Equity Exchange's "Shanghai Private Equity and Venture Capital Share Transfer Platform" project, meanwhile, broadens exit channels for angel investors, venture capital and other early-stage capital, and provides more "source water" for the incubation of science and technology enterprises.

Nine projects were commended, including as the "Building Shanghai Lingang Science and Technology Insurance Innovation Leading Zone" project, which aims to create a new model of science and technology insurance innovation and promote the development of science and technology insurance industry in the city.

The Shanghai Financial Innovation Award, the only one in the financial sector organized by the municipal government with the approval of the central authorities, serves as an important platform for displaying the achievements, summarizing the experience, and stimulating the enthusiasm of the city's financial innovation, contributing to the construction of the Shanghai International Financial Center.

It was established in 2010.