In the afternoon of March 17, the 29th edition of the Global Financial Center Index was released in Shenzhen. Qingdao was ranked 42nd among global financial centers, up 5 places from the previous edition.

Financial cluster area in Jinjialing, Qingdao

Since its first inclusion in the Global Financial Center Index in March 2016, Qingdao has been ranked in the top 50 global financial centers for nine times, and is increasingly attracting the attention of the global economic and financial community.

Qingdao also performs well in many sub-lists of this list. Qingdao is ranked No. 2 in the list of Top 15 Financial Centers by Reputation. And it ranked fifth in the list of 15 Financial Centers Expected to Further Increase Their Influence. This confirms that the potential and space for the development of Qingdao's financial industry is affirmed and that its future is promising.

Committed to becoming a financial technology hub, Qingdao is also attracting attention from the global economic and financial community. The current edition of the list scores and ranks 105 financial centers around the world on FinTech, with Qingdao ranking 30th, up three spots from the previous edition and above the overall ranking.

Since 2017, the opening up of China's financial sector has become more rapid and steady, and the construction of an internationalized financial center has become an important direction for the development of more and more cities. For this reason, the Global Financial Center Index, which is known as the "barometer" of the development of international financial centers, is gaining more and more attention. 

Since last year, Qingdao has worked hard to overcome the impact of the epidemic to act proactively. Therefore, the development of the financial sector has been on a fast track. By the end of 2020, the number of financial institutions in the city reached 280, both corporate financial and foreign financial institutions reached 35 in Qingdao. Qingdao ranks sixth in the country in terms of the number of foreign banks.

And its financial sector is also opening up further to outside world.

On May 29, 2020, the Management Committee of Qingdao Pilot Free Trade Zone in Shandong Province and China Europe International Exchange (CEIBS) signed a memorandum of cooperation. CEIBS officially established the CEIBS China (North) Capital Market Service Base in Qingdao Pilot Free Trade Zone. On February 7 this year, Intesa San Paolo of Italy and Qingdao officially signed a strategic cooperation memorandum (supplement), in which the two sides will accelerate key projects such as joint venture securities company and China Business Center of Intesa San Paolo of Italy. At the same time, they will further expand cooperation in wealth management and other fields, lay a solid foundation for comprehensive to deepen the strategic financial cooperation.

With the strong atmosphere of financial industry development, Qingdao has become the city with the most intensive professional forums and seminars on wealth management in China. Qingdao has established wealth management cooperation with more than 100 financial institutions from more than 20 countries and regions around the world. In addition, Qingdao also signed strategic cooperation agreements with well-known international financial institutions such as Intesa San Paolo of Italy and Standard Chartered Bank to deepen the exchange and cooperation in the field of finance and wealth management.