A view of Shanghai's Lujiazui financial hub in April. The city attracted foreign capital of about $4.67 billion in the first quarter, up 4.5 percent year-on-year. CHEN FEI/XINHUA

Increased opening-up, reforms lift city to fourth spot in global rankings behind New York, London and Tokyo

While the COVID-19 pandemic brings complexity and uncertainty to global capital markets, the ongoing financial opening-up in Shanghai makes the city, and China on the whole, an increasingly attractive choice for world leading financial service providers.

New York-based Neuberger Berman set up an investment management company in Shanghai in 2016 shortly after the China Securities Regulatory Commission allowed wholly foreign-owned enterprises to practice private fund management activities.

The 81-year-old asset management firm recently again took quick action. On April 1－the first day foreign ownership limits of mutual funds were eliminated in China－Neuberger Berman applied for mutual fund qualification in the country, and became one of the just two companies making such a move.

According to the company's China CEO Patrick Liu, the Shanghai government has been working closely with foreign financial institutions even during the COVID-19 outbreak earlier this year.

"It is with no doubt that Shanghai will move unswervingly toward the goal of building itself into a world financial center with such an opened-up and highly efficient government," Liu said.

On March 20, a total of five foreign financial institutions held a joint online opening ceremony in Shanghai, among which were industry big names JPMorgan Securities (China) Co Ltd and Invesco Ruihe (Shanghai) Private Equity Investment Management Co Ltd.

The opening of JPMorgan Securities (China) Co Ltd marked the second time a newly established foreign-controlled securities joint venture began operations in China, following the opening of Nomura Orient International Securities Co Ltd in December, with the foreign partners holding 51-percent stakes in their respective ventures.

The business scope of JPMorgan Securities includes brokerage, securities investment advisory, and securities underwriting and sponsorship activities. Defining the joint venture as a major milestone in the country, JPMorgan China CEO Mark Leung said that they are able to invest via the new company and help support China's financial market development.

Shanghai Vice-Mayor Wu Qing presided over the opening ceremony, which connected the institutions' global management teams via livestreaming.

The official opening of the five foreign financial institutions is in line with Shanghai's goal of building itself into a global hub for asset management and insurance companies. More importantly, the opening of the five financial companies gave confidence to everyone, "not only to those living in Shanghai, but also to people all over the world," Wu said.

International financial giants' confidence in China, and especially Shanghai, was evident in their hiring in Shanghai which continued even under the cloud of COVID-19. Wall Street titan Goldman Sachs updated recruitment information on its official WeChat account, looking for candidates working in the securities, operations and consumer and investment divisions in Shanghai.

Nomura Orient, the first foreign-controlled securities joint venture in China, updated its want ad on March 6. Available job vacancies, mostly in Shanghai, cover departments such as wealth management, asset management, product development, research and operations.

As the company explained, most of their recruitment this year will take place in the operations departments such as brokerage and asset management. Online or phone interviews were taken during the coronavirus outbreak and nearly 10 positions had been filled by the beginning of April. By the end of this year, the company's headcount will reach 200, up from 120 at present.