The State Council, China's Cabinet, commended specific local governments just before the May 1 holiday, including the Futian district government in the southern coastal city of Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

The commendation recognized Futian's achievements in promoting the sound development of private investment, corporate bond issuance, financial innovation and risk prevention.

The general office of the State Council issued a bulletin that praised 90 cities and 127 counties and districts for making evident achievements in promoting supply-side structural reform, expanding aggregate demand, stimulating innovation-driven development and improving residents' livelihoods and well-being.

The Futian district government stands out among the first-tier cities on the list of honored local governments and was the only district in Shenzhen to receive the honor.

Futian's achievements include 31 livelihood projects, helping the development of brick-and-mortar enterprises, introducing China's first financial technology-focused policy system and its efforts to build Futian Financial Street.

Fintech companies use innovative internet technologies to deliver financial services and to compete with traditional financial institutions and intermediaries.

Futian covers an area of only 78.6 square kilometers and faces the challenges of social investment saturation and inadequate private investment. So, the district government has encouraged enterprises to issue corporate bonds to stimulate investment in fixed assets, by reducing financing costs and improving financing efficiency. Through these efforts, the number of listed companies has increased steadily in recent years.

Based on the new generation of technology, covering big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and the blockchain, the financial environment has undergone dramatic changes.

Futian has introduced the first domestic fintech policy system and adopted measures to promote the sector's development.

The district has also established warning and response mechanisms for financial risk and has strengthened coordination among the relevant sectors. The district inspected 55,943 companies engaged in peer-to-peer lending, equity financing and private equity investment in 2016, preventing financial fraud and putting financial risks at bay.

In the first quarter of 2017, Futian district's GDP reached 88.45 billion yuan ($13 billion), an increase of 8.2 percent from the same period of last year. Total retail sales of consumer goods amounted to 37.79 billion yuan, an increase of 9.3 percent. The investment volume of fixed assets stood at 8.53 billion yuan, an increase of 22.1 percent. The actual use of foreign investment reached $229 million.

Shenzhen Daily provided the story.

(HK Edition 06/09/2017 page1)