As the Shanghai (Pilot) Free Trade Zone (FTZ) expansion is on the cards, related financial activities in China's financial hub gain momentum.

An exchange forum on private equity held at Lujiazui of Shanghai on Feb 1 attracted senior executives from over 50 private equity firms to exchange ideas about such issues as registration, trusteeship and service and potential opportunities for further development and innovation

The forum was organized by the Lujiazui Financial City's administration committee ahead of its pending integration into the free trade zone on Mar 1. It explored enterprises' demands with the aim of accommodating their cross-border asset allocation issues.

This will be followed by a report to be jointly worked out by the City Committee, Bank of China, and consultancy firms Ernst & Young and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu to make recommendations to relevant authorities, said a director of the committee.

Since the founding of the free trade zone in Aug 2013, leading authorities in China's financial sector – the People's Bank of China, and regulatory commissions in banking, securities and insurance sectors, announced 51 policies and regulations in support of financial innovation and reform in the zone, which will be updated to cope with the zone's expansion and new emerging circumstances in financial industries.

Lujiazui, which attracts the majority financial resources in the city, is also integrating its existing resources to keep in line with the current financial innovations, including the cross-border use of yuan, opening up of financial service sector and building a sound financial market. ad