Chinanews, Beijing, Oct. 22 – The Ministry of Commerce spokesman Chong Quan said on Wednesday that since China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), the opening of China's trade in services has been unprecedented, the China Securities Journal reported.
At a forum marking the fifth anniversary of China's entry into the WTO, Chong said that in the banking sector, by the end of May this year, 71 foreign banks had opened 197 branch offices in China. These foreign banks had launched Renminbi service in 25 cities across China.
Apart from the banking sector, by the end of June this year, foreign financial institutions had set up 7 auto finance companies and 3 corporate financial branches in China. The work of introducing overseas trust and investment companies as a way to introduce overseas institutional investors is also in process.
In the securities market, by the end of last June, China had set up 23 joint-funded fund management companies and 7 joint-funded securities companies. The number of overseas securities companies that can buy A-shares in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets has reached 39 and 19, respectively. 42 overseas institutions have been approved as qualified foreign institutional investors (QFII).
In insurance sector, by the end of last year, 41 foreign insurance companies had entered into China, accounting for half of the total number of insurance companies in the country. They have opened a total of nearly 400 branch offices in China.
Apart from the finance sector, Chong said China had further opened its market in other sectors as well. Taking the distribution sector as an example, by the end of last year, China had approved 1,341 foreign-funded commercial enterprises in China. They had opened 5,657 stores in the country. Large foreign chain stores have occupied one-fourth of the supermarket shares in China. In the telecommunication, transportation, education, tourism and other sectors, the opening-up is also developing in increasing depth.
In recent years, China has introduced more foreign capital into domestic finance sector. In 2005, the amount of actual foreign direct investment in the banking, insurance and securities sectors reached 11.8 billion US dollars. When added with this figure, the amount of actual foreign investment utilization reached 72.4 billion US dollars in 2005, up 19.42% from the previous year, Chong noted.