Southern Finance reporter Cao Yuan reported from Shenzhen
Around the golden inner bay of the Pearl River Estuary, a high-level financial "corridor" opening to the world is taking shape.
Along the Shenzhen Binhe Avenue from east to west, passing through the Hetao, linking to Qianhai, connecting Nansha via the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Corridor or the Humen Bridge, and turning south to Hengqin, the Guangdong Free Trade Zone's major areas and major cooperation zones form a chain, driving high-level financial openness to support the high-quality development of the real economy.
Among them, Qianhai, which is separated from Hong Kong by the water, shoulders the important mission of “relying on Hong Kong, serving the mainland, and facing the world”.
For three consecutive years, Shenzhen's comprehensive reform pilot has accumulated 48 experiences that have been promoted nationwide, and 17 of them have been implemented first in Qianhai, accounting for about 35%. After the recent announcement of "Shenzhen Comprehensive Reform Pilot 2.0", relevant reform measures have also been piloted and implemented in Qianhai, a "special zone within a special zone".
Qianhai has achieved the agglomeration effect of the “four major capitals”. Attract international capital and help companies list in Hong Kong. Cultivate and strengthen patient capital and bold capital, and support small, medium and micro enterprises, technology enterprises, etc. Focus on developing industrial capital and penetrating into the capillary end of the real economy.
When the financial water "rushes into momentum", the industrial fish can "swim magnificently". Judging from the data, since the Qianhai Shekou Free Trade Zone was established 10 years ago, the cumulative actual use of foreign investment is 38.2 billion US dollars, accounting for 67% of the Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone; the number of customs registered enterprises exceeds 11,000, an increase of 5.7 times from the beginning of its establishment.
The "super bridge" for China's asset revaluation
The relationship between enterprises, industrial development and financial capital is just like fish and water – the "water element" supports the fish's swimming and growth, while the "fish element" enables the water to surge and expand.
Recently, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the "Opinions on Further Promoting Shenzhen's Comprehensive Reform Pilot, Deepening Reform, Innovation and Expanding Opening Up" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions").
Qianhai deploys relevant measures from the four aspects mentioned in the "Opinions". In terms of financial services to the real economy, Qianhai will become the market focus by “creating a cultivation base for listing in Hong Kong”.
A recent report released by Goldman Sachs Group launched China's "Top Ten" portfolio, once again triggering extensive market discussions on the revaluation of Chinese assets. Against the background of the revaluation of China's assets, some experts believe that this move "seizes the key to Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation, and the core lies in achieving the synergy of "1+1>2"."
In recent years, listing in Hong Kong has become a choice for many companies. In Shenzhen alone, "star companies" such as "The No. 1 Humanoid Robot Stock" UBTECH, "The No. 1 18C Share on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange" Jingtai Technology, and "The No. 1 Collaborative Robot Stock" Yuejiang Technology are all listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Xiao Geng, professor and deputy dean of the School of Public Policy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen) and chairman of the Hong Kong Society of International Finance, believes that helping companies list in Hong Kong means that Qianhai can take advantage of Hong Kong's "software", including international legal, regulatory and global capital pricing capabilities, combined with the "hardware" advantages of Shenzhen and the mainland, such as a vast industrial hinterland, a complete supply chain and relatively low comprehensive operating costs.
Qu Jian, deputy director of the China (Shenzhen) Comprehensive Development Research Institute and director of the Qianhai branch, said that in the 9+2 urban agglomeration of the Greater Bay Area, the state has systematically laid out two capital markets, with the core points located in Hong Kong and Shenzhen respectively. Qianhai is the link connecting the two capital markets. The main body of economic development is enterprises. How to enable enterprises to develop rapidly, the capital market is the top priority.
Qianhai builds a cultivation base for listing in Hong Kong, which will attract international capital and enhance brand influence. According to Deloitte statistics, in the first half of this year, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange became the world's largest exchange in IPO financing with 40 new stocks and HK$102.1 billion in financing. Throughout 2025, Hong Kong's new stock market is expected to see 80 new stocks listed, with financing expected to reach HK$200 billion, of which 25 new stocks are "A+H" dual-listed.
Ou Zhenxing, managing partner of Deloitte China South China, said that the continued leadership of the Hong Kong stock market is due to the support of a number of factors. For example, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange continues to optimize the listing system, simplify the approval process, lower the listing threshold, and strengthen support for biotechnology and technological innovation enterprises; in addition, the interconnection between Hong Kong and the mainland stock market has also been continuously strengthened, and the southbound trading volume of Southbound Trading has increased significantly, showing the interest of mainland investors in the Hong Kong market.
At the same time, the Qianhai Equity Trading Center, as a local financial infrastructure that is “based in Qianhai and linked to Shenzhen and Hong Kong,” will also help companies go public in Hong Kong. The "Action Plan on Supporting the High-Quality Development of Qianhai Finance (2025-2026)" announced in March this year clearly mentioned that the Shenzhen Qianhai Stock Exchange Center will be supported to improve the cultivation mechanism for listing in Hong Kong, make good use of Hong Kong's new special technology company listing mechanism (18C), and cultivate and guide high-quality companies to list in Hong Kong in accordance with laws and regulations.
Currently, Qianhai, as the "experimental demonstration window for the opening up of my country's financial industry", has formed "six cross-border" financial brands in terms of financial openness and innovation and attracting international capital, including cross-border RMB loans, cross-border two-way bond issuance, cross-border two-way capital pools, cross-border two-way equity investment, cross-border asset transfers, and cross-border financial infrastructure.
The latest data shows that the cumulative cross-border receipts and payments of Qianhai FT accounts have exceeded 1 trillion yuan. As of the end of 2024, Qianhai QFLP and QDIE pilot institutions account for 80% of Shenzhen, of which Hong Kong-funded institutions account for more than 90%; Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong International Financial City has 436 financial institutions settled in it, including nearly 150 licensed financial institutions, making it one of the areas with the highest concentration of mainland, Hong Kong-funded and foreign-funded financial institutions.
The “two-wheeled engine” of patient capital and bold capital
In order to improve the ability of finance to serve the real economy, the "Opinions" proposes to "improve the incentive and restraint mechanism for financial services to the real economy. Improve the practice scenarios and rule systems for technology-based enterprise credit, intellectual property securitization, scientific and technological achievements and intellectual property transactions."
Echoing this, Qianhai proposed to “develop and expand patient capital and bold capital, optimize the corporate financing environment, and better serve innovation and entrepreneurship.”
In recent years, "patient capital" and "bold capital" have become hot words in the capital market. Behind these are the long-term financing difficulties and expensive financing problems faced by small, medium and micro enterprises and technology-based enterprises.
The reporter noticed that the "patience" of capital has been reflected in Qianhai. For example, in order to open up the "last mile" of financing for early-stage science and technology innovation enterprises, Shenzhen Credit Information fully exploited the value of public data and commercial data and launched the "Technology Startup Pass" credit product in Qianhai for early-stage science and technology innovation enterprises.
Zhang Qi, deputy general manager of Shenzhen Credit Information, told reporters, "Science and Technology Startup uses data advantages and machine learning technology to identify key characteristics of start-up and growth-stage companies, find start-up technology companies with similar development trends to mature companies, discover future science and technology stars, expand the coverage of financial services for science and technology innovation companies beyond the list, and help financial institutions provide credit services to early-stage and start-up companies in customer groups such as '20+8' strategic emerging industries."
According to reports, the "Technology Startup Pass" product has been running for nearly a year and has served more than 3,200 companies, 80% of which are start-up technology companies on the non-government cultivation list. It has provided 3.8 billion yuan in credit, with interest rates as low as 3.45%, and the smallest company has only 10 employees.
Compared with credit funds, insurance funds are a more typical type of "patient capital". They have the characteristics of larger scale, longer term, and stable sources, and have natural advantages in supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in science and technology innovation.
Therefore, the "Opinions" are also guiding the entry of medium and long-term funds represented by insurance funds into the market, "supporting insurance funds' legal and compliant investment in private equity investment funds and venture capital funds initiated and established in Shenzhen that mainly invest in specific fields." The reporter learned that Shenzhen's first insurance private securities fund manager license has been granted in Qianhai, with an initial fund scale of 30 billion yuan, focusing on high-quality listed companies that meet policy guidance and insurance capital allocation needs.
In addition, Qianhai Stock Exchange, as the "base" of the multi-level capital market, is also "protecting" the development of small and medium-sized enterprises. In December 2024, Shenzhen Stock Exchange was successfully approved to be selected into the China Securities Regulatory Commission's "Specialized, Special and New" special board list. As of the end of May 2025, the cumulative number of companies on the special board has reached 320. Among the listed companies, "specialized, special and new" small and medium-sized enterprises accounted for 73.5%, of which "little giant" companies that specialized, special and new accounted for 16.3%, and post-investment companies accounted for 36.1%.
In January this year, the connection between the three- and four-board systems was also implemented, and the "fast lane" for Qianhai stock exchange companies to enter the public market was officially opened. Compared with going directly to the New Third Board, companies can go to the New Third Board through the "green channel" of Qianhai Stock Exchange, which has the advantages of streamlining the inquiry content, shortening the review time limit, and improving review efficiency.
Chen Liang, general manager of Shenzhen Qianhai Equity Trading Center, said that the regulatory positioning of the regional equity market is very clear. It is the "base" of the capital market and a comprehensive platform for local governments to support enterprises. Its basic function is to integrate the resources of the government and the market, improve comprehensive financial services and listing standard cultivation functions, improve the quality and efficiency of the development of small, medium and micro enterprises, and provide listed enterprise resources to higher-level capital markets.
Supply chain finance goes deep into the "capillaries" of the real economy
Open up the "capillaries" of the real economy through supply chain finance and other means. After the "Opinions" were released, Qianhai proposed that the next step would be to focus on emerging finance, cross-border finance, supply chain finance, and technology finance.
Yu Lingqu, executive director of the Financial Development and State-owned Enterprise Research Institute of the China (Shenzhen) Comprehensive Development Research Institute, believes that supply chain finance is closely related to supporting the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry, supporting inclusive finance, and the development of small, medium and micro enterprises. Finance must move away from virtual reality to better support the real economy. Supply chain finance is an important starting point.
As an important part of the national supply chain finance, Qianhai is one of the largest commercial factoring and financial leasing centers in the country. As early as August 2020, Qianhai released the country's first special action plan to promote the development of the factoring industry, clearly proposing to build Qianhai into a supply chain financial innovation demonstration zone.
However, as a type of financial product with many changes in product model, factoring itself has very complex legal relationships, which requires the development of the industry to require a high-quality legal environment and talent support such as factoring lawyers.
Qianhai happens to have this advantage. In January 2017, the Qianhai Court issued the country's first adjudication guidelines specifically for the trial of factoring dispute cases, the "Judgment Guidelines on the Trial of Factoring Contract Disputes in the Qianhai Free Trade Zone", providing guiding ideas for factoring contract cases; in August 2021, the Qianhai Court established the country's first diversified dispute resolution sub-center for emerging financial cases and settled in the Shenzhen Commercial Factoring Association to create a new path for the management of litigation sources through joint consultation, joint governance, and sharing.
The commercial factoring industry also needs to rely on a strong industrial market to meet the accounts receivable financing needs of more small and medium-sized enterprises. As a strong manufacturing city, Shenzhen has 11,000 specialized small and medium-sized enterprises and 21,000 innovative small and medium-sized enterprises as of May 2025.
In the high-quality government affairs, market, and legal environment, Qianhai's commercial factoring industry has gradually formed a clustering effect, and has also achieved many innovative business results that are the first of its kind in the country. For example, the country’s first overseas transfer business of commercial factoring assets, the country’s first green project balance ABS, the country’s first green supply chain ABCP, the country’s first agricultural enterprise structural adjustment asset-backed note, and the country’s first rural revitalization ABN+CRMA product in the market.
Fintech empowerment is also bringing new opportunities to the development of supply chain finance in Qianhai. For example, Shenzhen Qianhai Lian Yirong Commercial Factoring Co., Ltd. uses digital tools to reduce corporate financing costs. As of 2024, Lianyirong has provided customized financing solutions to more than 330,000 small, medium and micro enterprises, reducing financing costs by 30%-50% through digital tools, especially benefiting "long-tail customers" in fields such as renewable energy and rural revitalization.
Based on Qianhai’s institutional innovation advantages, supply chain finance companies in the region are penetrating into the capillary end of the real economy through model innovation and technological empowerment to serve key areas of inclusive finance.
