China unveils financial support blueprint for Beijing, Shanghai and GBA tech hubs
China's central bank and other government departments issued new guidelines to boost financial support for the country's three main science and technology innovation centres: Beijing, Shanghai and the Greater Bay Area. The plan sets distinct strategic directions for each region and promotes cross-bo
China's central bank and several other government departments have jointly issued new guidelines to bolster financial support for the country's three primary international science and technology innovation centres: Beijing, Shanghai and the Greater Bay Area (GBA), according to a report in The Standard on 19 October 2026.
The document outlines targeted measures to strengthen regional financial synergy, align policies, achieve mutual recognition of standards, share information and connect supporting infrastructure across the three hubs, the report said.
The guidelines set distinct strategic directions for each region while emphasising the need for joint risk-prevention mechanisms to guard against systemic financial risks, the report added. For Beijing, covering the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the focus is on original innovation and regional collaborative research and development, with stepped-up financial backing for major scientific and technological infrastructure projects. Shanghai, in the Yangtze River Delta, will leverage industrial cluster synergies to build a multi-stakeholder, collaborative tech-finance service ecosystem. The GBA aims to construct an open tech-finance system, strengthening high-level financial interaction and regulatory alignment among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, the report said.
Leveraging Hong Kong's status as an international financial centre, the guidelines call for the Shenzhen Stock Exchange to accelerate its transformation into a global asset allocation platform tailored to innovative markets, the report stated. The blueprint also backs the GBA in becoming an industrial finance hub and a centre for generating "patient capital" that integrates Hong Kong and Macau while connecting to global markets, it said.
To facilitate cross-border operations, authorities will actively encourage financial institutions to link China's fintech regulatory tools with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's Fintech Supervisory Sandbox, the report said. The directive also pledges to deepen cross-border credit reporting cooperation across the GBA and explore new mechanisms for cross-border data flows and the commercialisation of intellectual property, it added.