Webinar - The Shanghai Free Trade Zone and its impact on China's Financial Services Industry

Few initiatives in the past couple of years have captured the attention of China’s financial services community more than the recently opened Shanghai Free Trade Zone. Situated in the eastern part of Shanghai and encompassing 29km2 of land which, like the rest of Pudong, was predominantly farmland as little as ten years ago.

Depending on whom you speak with, the Shanghai Free Trade Zone will either be a bastion of financial industry reform and opening, unseen since the great opening of the late 1970s where unbridled capitalism reigns free and unhindered, or it will be a mini-HK, where bankers are saved the long-distance phone charges to HK, but not much else.

Either way, following the developments of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone is critical for any company in, or closely tied to China’s financial services industry to pay attention to. Citibank and DBS have already made big bets, and others might soon too.

To help companies understand the zone and its potential implications, Kapronasia’s next webinar will take a look at what the Shanghai Free Trade Zone actually is and examine potential scenarios of what it could be in the future. Over the course of this 30 minute webinar we look at:

  • An overview of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone
  • Current regulations and guidelines of the Free Trade Zone
  • Comparison of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone to other China special economic development zones
  • Future potential Scenarios of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone Title: The Shanghai Free Trade Zone and its impact on China's Financial Services Industry

PLEASE NOTE: There were some technical difficulties during the webinar, so the video and audio are slightly off in the recording. We apologize for any inconvenience and have included a separate pdf version of just the slides which can be downloaded here

Also, there is really no such thing as a 'complete' discussion of the Shanghai FTZ as the current rules and regulations are very much works in progress. A decision to enter or not to enter the FTZ is a decision that each company needs to make on their own based on their own circumstances. If you have any questions about the current regulations or where they might go in the future, please get in touch with us through the contact us link or by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone report can be downloaded here.

Click on the video below to start the webinar video playback. If for some reason the video player does not show, you may need to upgrade your browser or send us This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..