SHANGHAI needs to speed up construction of a multi-layer financial credit system for small and medium-sized enterprises to better serve its target of becoming a global financial center, participants at a forum said yesterday.

Also, closer financial cooperation among Asian countries is the need of the hour as the world grapples with a debt crisis breaking out in the United States and Europe, and such cooperation can in turn enhance Shanghai’s role as a financial center, they told the Shanghai Forum on Asian Financial Cooperation organized by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

“A multi-layer financial credit system for SMEs is a short board for Shanghai,” said Wang Yuanlong, a senior economist at the Bank of China. “Small companies have to rely heavily on direct financing, in other words, get listed, to obtain credit. It is too narrow and sometimes difficult for small firms.”

Wang suggested the government first enact laws and rules, but the whole process has to be market-oriented.

Local SMEs are facing tough times amid a not-so-rosy economic climate and rising labor costs in Shanghai.

According to a report by the Shanghai Statistics Bureau on Thursday, more than half of small firms in the city are struggling to operate normally in the current circumstances, though they are the actual backbone sustaining Shanghai’s economic dynamics.

Others said China and other Asian countries should boost financial cooperation for shared benefits.

“For example, if we can strike a deal to appreciate currencies at a coordinated rate, losses for exporters in some Asian countries will be reduced,” said Masahiro Kawai, dean and chief executive officer of the Asian Development Bank Institute.

Wu Jianmin, chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Center for International Sciences, said Asian countries tend to get united more easily during crises, such as during the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

“Now when another crisis is round the corner, it is time to push forward cooperation again,” Wu suggested. – shanghai Daily

Tags: China banking industry, China finance, China financial

Posted by CBN on Aug 27 2011. Filed under Banking-Finance, Companies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
 

Source:cnbusinessnews