SZ financial players lend support to BRI projects

A bird's-eye view of the Angola Kaikai Hydropower Station. Shenzhen-based Ping An is the main underwriter of this project, with a 70% share and a coverage of US$4.5 billion. Xinhua

Shenzhen's financial service enterprises as well as financial regulators have given full play to their advantages in business reach and innovation strength to support projects that have brought benefits to people's livelihoods and socioeconomic development of countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China Ltd., a Shenzhen-based financial services conglomerate, has been actively involved in several major BRI projects. Its property insurance arm, Ping An Property and Casualty Insurance, has provided risk protection of more than 1.28 trillion yuan (US$180.42 billion) for 1,573 Belt and Road projects, covering participating countries such as Pakistan, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, and Laos.

Known as the "Three Gorges Project in Africa," the Angola Kaikai Hydropower Station has entered the main dam construction stage in May 2023. The project, located in the middle section of the Kwanza River, Angola’s mother river, is undertaken by China Energy Construction Gezhouba Group and is the largest hydropower station constructed by a Chinese-funded enterprise in Angola.

Upon completion, it will have an annual average power generation of 8566GW/h, which will meet more than 50% of Angola's power supply demand. The construction of the station is estimated to provide nearly 10,000 jobs to the local community during its peak period, which will greatly promote the local socioeconomic development. Ping An is the main underwriter of this project, with a 70% share and a coverage of US$4.5 billion.

Ping An has also underwritten other major Belt and Road projects, including Pakistan's Karot Hydropower Station, the first hydropower project along the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the first investment project of the Silk Road Fund, and the SPINE section of the NEOM New City tunnel project in Saudi Arabia.

LNG carrier “Dapeng Princess” sails on the water. The carrier was a project supported by the Shenzhen branch of China Export and Credit Insurance Corp. Shenzhen Special Zone Daily

The Shenzhen branch of China Export and Credit Insurance Corp. (CECIC), as China's only policy-based export credit insurance institution based in Shenzhen, has also delivered fruitful achievements in serving projects along the Belt and Road. By the end of 2023, CECIC Shenzhen branch had supported exports and investments worth US$168 billion in Belt and Road countries, and paid a total of US$700 million in claims.

One of the well-known projects is Burkina Faso's 2,000-kilometer-long national fiber optic backbone. The project, undertaken by Huawei Technologies and completed in 2019, has connected 19 provinces and 47 cities in Burkina Faso, a significant milestone in the development of the western African country's communication network.

Over the past 10 years, CECIC Shenzhen branch has supported Shenzhen companies such as Huawei and ZTE to participate in the construction of telecommunication infrastructure in the "Global South," and has supported Shenzhen telecommunication companies to expand their business reach in developing countries with a total of US$79.3 billion in short-term export credit insurance and medium- to long-term export credit insurance. This has brought benefits to over 110 Belt and Road countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Over the years, Shenzhen Municipal Local Financial Supervision Bureau, a financial regulator, has also been contributing to the BRI through making constant innovations, promoting the integration of industry and financial sectors, employing financial science and technology, and supporting green and low-carbon development, on different levels and in diversified fields, according to officials from the bureau.

In the future, Shenzhen will continue to strengthen its financial ties with Belt and Road countries in fields such as venture capital, financial technology, green finance, and financial market connectivity, officials from the city’s financial regulators said.

Shenzhen boasts 23,000 national high-tech enterprises and 752 national “little giant” companies, and the city’s research and development expenditure accounting for 5.5% of its GDP, which is second only to Beijing. 

Shenzhen also enjoys also a leading position in financial technology in the Asia-Pacific region, with a number of world-leading fintech enterprises such as Ping An Technology and CMG Fintech, as well as a number of fintech infrastructure resources such as the central bank-led Shenzhen Fintech Research Institute and the National Fintech Evaluation Center. In the future, Shenzhen will continue to promote cooperation with Abu Dhabi, Singapore, and other places to organize fintech festivals, and explore more opportunities for cooperation between Shenzhen and the Middle East in fintech.

Abdulla Salem Alnuaimi (R), chief executive officer of ADX, and Tang Rui, executive vice president of Shenzhen Stock Exchange, sign a Memorandum of Understanding during the Shenzhen delegation’s visit to ADX in the capital of the UAE in December 2023. File photo

Cooperation in the field of sustainable finance will also be strengthened. Shenzhen has taken initiative in this regard by introducing the first local legislation on green finance in China and the world’s first comprehensive bill regulating the development of green finance. Shenzhen encourages innovations in financial practices, and some lauded practices have emerged in recent years. For example, Tencent WeChat Pay launched cross-border remittance services aimed at helping Filipino domestic workers send money to their families in the Philippines.

Expanding financial market connectivity is another field Shenzhen has been working on. The city will support the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and exchanges in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, and other Middle East cities and countries to explore ETF and bond connect programs, mutual recognition of funds, and mutual listing of public REITs.

The Shenzhen Stock Exchange and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), the second largest exchange in the Middle East, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) during the Shenzhen delegation's visit to ADX in the capital of the UAE in December 2023. Aiming to provide a robust platform for financial growth and connectivity, the MOU focused on bolstering cross-border index and ETF cooperation, as well as exploring international financing opportunities.