At present, China is home to large amounts of financial assets, including not only bonds, equities and securities funds which feature high liquidity and are traded in a standardized way, but also large amounts of financial assets that are tradable but lack support from an open trading platform. Transactions of these products need to be regulated, so as to enhance liquidity. As of the end of 2009, stocks of financial assets had totalled approximately RMB 130 trillion, including approximately RMB 42 trillion credit assets. Such high financial assets stock creates a strong demand for trading. The establishment of the Beijing Financial Assets Exchange is expected to effectively help solve issues such as the lack of a smooth transaction channel in China's financial assets market.
Beijing Executive Vice Mayor Ji Lin noted that the establishment of the Beijing Financial Assets Exchange lays a solid foundation for building Beijing into a financial center with international influence. The time is ripe for Beijing to create a national financial assets trading market, as the city is the center for financial decision making in China, as well as a financial information, financial service and asset management center. Banks in Beijing account for more than 60 percent of the overall banking businesses in China, and boast about 80 percent of the capital of the whole sector in the country. Most financial institutions, assets management companies and enterprises under the aegis of the central government are based in the city. The establishment of Beijing Financial Assets Exchange allows Beijing to fill in the gap in the field of financial products trading market, and further consolidates the leading position of the city in the financial sector.
Huo Xuewen, Party Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Financial Work, introduced that Beijing has made initial progress in construction of the factor market, with the establishment of the China Technology Exchange, the China Forestry Exchange, the China Beijing Equity Exchange and the China Beijing Environment Exchange. The establishment of the Beijing Financial Assets Exchange will further improve the factor market in the capital city. Shouldering the mission of "Based in Beijing, Serving China, Geared to the World," the Beijing Financial Assets Exchange is designed to be a national financial assets trading site, providing various financial assets with full-spectrum services ranging from registration to trading and settlement.
Based on the China Beijing Equity Exchange's original business of state-owned equities and non-performing financial assets trading, the Beijing Financial Assets Exchange will explore businesses including the trading of credit assets, trust assets and private equity assets in compliance with laws and regulations, in a move to create a national professional financial assets trading platform.
Beijing Financial Assets Exchange Chairman Xiong Yan said Beijing is able to build a national financial assets trading platform without difficulties. The China Beijing Equity Exchange set up the "China Financial Assets Supermarket" division in as early as 2003, to provide non-performing financial assets disposal services in collaboration with four leading assets management companies and state-owned commercial banks. Now the division has evolved to the most influential financial assets trading platform in China with the highest transaction volumes, with businesses covering non-performing financial assets disposal, state-owned equity trading and M&A loans. As of 2009, the China Beijing Equity Exchange had disposed financial assets worth RMB 330 billion in total, accounting for 80 percent of the industry total.
The Beijing Financial Assets Exchange is the first national financial assets trading platform to be officially inaugurated in China.