PBOC governor urges stepped up FTZ reforms

The governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, urged on Wednesday its Shanghai head office to step up efforts to draft detailed rules to support the financial reforms in the Shanghai free trade zone (FTZ).

Development of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone is a key national strategy, Zhou Xiaochuan, the PBOC governor, said during an -inspection tour to the zone.

The central bank will support the efforts to remove unnecessary control that obstructs the development of the real economy and provide quality financial services to investment and trade, he noted.

The focus will be on further simplifying administrative procedures, decentralizing, and improving the "negative list" for -foreign investment in the FTZ, Zhou said.

The zone, launched in September 2013, is a testing ground for the country's financial reforms.

The FTZ adopted a "negative list" approach for foreign investment inside the zone, which ensures foreign companies can invest without any restriction if a sector is not on the list.

By the end of March, the zone had attracted 7,492 companies, of which 628 are foreign-funded companies with the average registered capital being $4.68 million.

On Tuesday, the first arbitration regulation for the zone was unveiled with international rules being applied. The regulation will take effect on May 1.