Finance and Insurance

On the West Second Ring Road, adjacent to the Chang'an Jie, a brand new financial centre, Beijing Finance Street, has become a reality, with more construction taking place. Intelligent buildings meeting the most modern, world-class standards are being built here one after another.

By the end of 2005, Finance Street had attracted more than 500 headquarters of national financial institutions and large enterprises. The total capital managed by institutions within the area exceeded 13 trillion yuan (US$1.63 trillion). These institutions also controlled 90 percent of the country's credit deposits and 65 percent of the country's insurance premiums. The financing industry made remarkable progress during the Tenth Five-Year Plan, having accumulatively invested 14 billion yuan (US$1.75 billion), while developing 88 hectares of land. Finance Street itself realized 33 billion yuan (US$4.13 billion) in added value. Its three-level taxation exceeded 28.7 billion yuan (US$3.58 billion). In 2005, Beijing's finance industry realized added values 79.28 billion yuan (US$9.91 billion), an increase of 9.9 percent more than in 2004. By the end of 2005, the deposit balances of Chinese renminbi and foreign currencies in the city's financial institutions (including foreign-invested ones) was 2,897 billion yuan (US$ 362.13 billion), an increase of 509.36 billion yuan (US$63.67 billion) more than at the beginning of the year, an increase of 176.49 billion yuan (US$  22.1 billion) more than in December 2004. The trade volume of various negotiable securities on stock markets was valued at 932.25 billion yuan (US$ 116.53 billion).

Beijing's insurance industry achieved rapid development in 2005. The city had 44 insurance companies, an increase of 13 over 2004. There were 227 insurance agencies by the end of 2005, an increase of 47 over 2004. Total insurance premiums for 2005 were valued at 49.77 billion yuan (US$6.22 billion), an increase of 78.2 percent over 2004. A total of 7.54 billion yuan was paid out for damage under various insurance policies, an increase of 36.3 percent more than in 2004.