The Dream Factory of China

Twenty-one financial cases that were selected as the most representative of financial innovation in 2016 were released with the Qianhai Cross-border Financial Index on Thursday at a press conference in Qianhai.

According to the Financial Innovation Division of the Qianhai Authority, who organized the screening, the winners include eight innovative cases about products, three about technology, seven about service modes and three about management.

“For instance, the nation’s first instant decision-making system to fight against financial fraud was made by Ping An Bank. The system automatically makes calculations on the chances of fraud when a customer swipes his card and contacts the customer to confirm the transaction,” said Wang Xiaokun, deputy director of the division. “The judging panel that we invited decided to put it on the list because credit card fraud is one of the most concerning issues among customers.”

“On the lists we can also find technology, institution and management-related innovations. We have selected a mutual insurance company, a reinsurance company, a petty loan product, a series of products created under the practice of qualified domestic investment enterprise (QDIE) and more,” Wang said.

“I think the financial development in Qianhai has entered a higher level after the foundation Qianhai laid over the past few years. Hopefully Qianhai can provide more examples of innovation for the nation, and the enterprises here can lead the development of China’s financial sector,” Wang added.

At the conference, Chen Kwan-yiu, president of the Qianhai Institute for Innovative Research (QIIR), released the Qianhai Cross-border Financial Index that is made up of three sub-indexes: regional economy development index, financial environment index and cross-border transaction index.

According to Chen, the index increased to 6,271 points in the third quarter of the year from 1,147 points in the first quarter of 2013.

Chen said that the index’s rise indicates that Qianhai has a lot of developmental momentum, but its financial environment, such as the scale of its businesses and the number of licensed and new-mode financial institutions, needs to be improved.

By the end of September, revenue generated by Qianhai enterprises increased by 111 percent, and the added value of those companies increased by 39 percent.

The index was co-researched by QIIR and the University of Hong Kong.