As the center of the nation's financial industry, Lujiazui should function as "a core area of financial market construction and financial products innovation", said Zheng Yang, director of the Shanghai Financial Service Office, at a seminar on Shanghai Free Trade Zone on Mar 14.

While Lujiazui is making effort to build a global onshore renminbi (RMB) trading center, it can also try some offshore business by virtue of the FTZ, Zheng said.

As the city's commercial and financial center, Lujiazui was listed as one of the three new zones with eased investment rules in an expansion of the Shanghai pilot zone authorized by the National People’s Congress last December.

After expansion, Shanghai FTZ has about 58,000 companies, 38,000 more than before. The expanded FTZ also includes Jinqiao development zone and Zhangjiang high-tech zone, covering an overall area of 120.72 square kilometers.

In these zones, government approvals are no longer required as a precondition for overseas companies setting up ventures or changing their purpose of business. Instead the companies only need to file a report to the authorities.

Zheng revealed that the municipal government is making a new scheme to facilitate financial reform together with the People’s Bank of China, the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission.

The scheme includes trying to make renminbi (RMB) exchangeable in capital accounts, expanding cross-border use of the Chinese currency, speeding up the financial industry opening-up, building a financial market that open to international players and improving finance regulation.

Among above plans, the most important part is RMB capital exchangeable project, including the foreign currency transaction of free trade account and cross-border investment in securities.

Meanwhile, the planned Qualified Domestic Individual Investor program, or QDII2, will be launched this year, which will allow investors to buy securities products first in the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEx), and gradually expand to financial products in other parts of the world.

"We are exploring to admit a quota that allows residents in FTZ in Pudong New Area to invest overseas," Zheng said. That could involve immigration, real estate, securities and industrial investment.

"Qualified" domestic individual investors should have 3-years’ experience in stock investment and financial assets equivalent to no less than 1.5 million yuan ($244,000), the Shanghai Securities News reported.

The first step will be increasing the existing annual limit of $50,000 on individual purchases of foreign currencies in FTZ, Zheng said.

To support the cross-border use of RMB, authorities are considering allowing foreign enterprises to issue RMB bonds in FTZ, so as to raise capital for business expansion in the zones and overseas. A certain amount of the capital can be used to expand business in other domestic cities.

After the establishment of Shanghai’s first private bank Shanghai Huarui Bank, the city will support the launching of another two or three private banks with unique services and business modes.

Crude oil futures are expected to be listed in the second or third quarter of this year with the Shanghai International Energy Trade Center. After launching the international board for gold, the Shanghai Gold Exchange is considering other metals such as platinum and silver. Shanghai Stock Exchange is building a financial assets trading platform in FTZ that aims to attract foreign institutions to issue bonds in the zones.