Shanghai FTZ targets one-stop service

The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) Bonded Area, a special custom supervision area, unveiled the "Measures on Further Boosting Industry-Finance Integration of the Financial Leasing Industry, Improving Government Service to Make It Possible for Services to be Accessed via One Website, and Optimizing One-Stop Service," at a working conference held on May 8.

Based on the measures, the bonded area will speed up business procedures for key companies, shortening the procedure time by half to approve the business application and permit business operation within one month. The measures aim to promote the area's "one-stop service" brand that features fewest application materials, fastest efficiency and most convenience.

In recent years, the bonded area has taken advantage of preferential customs policies to pioneer various leasing businesses including aircraft leasing, witnessing significant progress in foreign currency-denominated leasing operations, remote customs supervision over aircraft leasing and facilitation in the handling of tax-related affairs.

As of 2018, the area had attracted 1,874 financial leasing companies, with their total assets reaching 1.02 trillion yuan ($149.61 billion). The area has become one of the country's key hot spots for financial leasing industry, supporting the real economic development of Shanghai and Yangtze River Delta region.

Financial leasing companies need to register a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) company for business operation, which requires high efficiency of business permission. Compared with Ireland and Singapore which are capable of completing the procedure in two or three weeks, the bonded area used to show low efficiency with two months.

"The bottleneck lies in the imperfect flow of information among different government departments, as finance leasing companies, different from other enterprises, have links with customs and foreign currency departments during business operation," said Zhang Jun, vice director of the economic development department of Shanghai FTZ Bonded Area Management Bureau. The new measures will help break the information barrier and boost the operation of SPV companies.

On the strength of FTZ's "single window" international trade platform service, the area launched services to help companies input business information and distribute information to relevant authorities.

"As a Guangzhou-based company, we just send application materials to the bonded area which help us complete business registration with high efficiency and quality service," Xu Feng, general manager of China Southern Air International Financial Leasing Co, expressed satisfaction with the bonded area.

The area has organized a service team to improve the efficiency of business permission.

On the same day, 10 leading finance lease companies, including China Eastern Airlines Corporation Ltd, Taiping & SINOPEC Financial Leasing Co, JIC Leasing Co, SPDB Financial Leasing Co, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Shanghai FTZ Bonded Area Management Bureau, respectively.

The cooperation projects cover traditional industries such as aircraft, shipping and machinery equipment, as well as upstream and downstream industrial chains including aeronautical material of aircraft, supply of energy security, integrated circuit, energy conservation and environmental protection, brain of smart cities, and nuclear power equipment of Belt and Road Initiative.

CPI Ronghe Financial Leasing Co plans to start high-end energy equipment leasing business in the bonded area. 

"The traditional energy equipment is related to electric and thermal power. But with increasing demands for clean energy and introduction of new technologies such as wind and photovoltaic power, financial leasing shows great market potential in the conversion of new and old kinetic energy," Ronghe's GM Cai Ning noted. 

Promoting industry - finance integration and developing the real economy have become the motive power for the sustainable growth of finance leasing industry, which has been proved by the bonded area since it gathers one fifth of the country's finance leasing assets.

The signed projects highlight significant investment and profit scales, with more than 100 planes, 100 ships and 10-billion-yuan high-end equipment to be input in the next three years. The investment is expected to increase by over 20 percent annually while part investors will strive to double the investment in two years.

With the improvement of both quantity and quality, the bonded area has taken lead in the finance leasing of aircraft, aero-engine, ship, new energy, new energy vehicle, big health and high-end equipment manufacturing in the country.