Pudong New Area
Shanghai’s Pudong New Area plans to offer tax incentives to overseas bankers, brokers and insurers to help it become a global financial center. Possibly a secondary reaon is to head off challenges from Tianjin Municipality and Shenzhen.
Pudong will offer rental subsidies, tax rebates, free annual health checks and ease the process for foreigners to become Shanghai residents.
The incentives, which are expected to last until the end of 2010, are being discussed with China’s tax authority.
The district’s deputy chief, Yan Xu, said in an interview, ‘To create a financial hub like the City of London or Wall Street, we need financial experts and overseas talent. ‘We need financial industry workers with technical expertise that can come up with creative ideas, innovative products.’
Employees of overseas financial companies will get a RMB200,000 ($29,000) one-time rental subsidy and a 20% tax rebate, while their chief representatives will get tax subsidies of as much as 40%, according to the plan.
PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Shanghai partner Stacy Kwok said, ‘This is very welcome news.’
Pudong is home to 73 banks, 202 brokerages, 145 insurers and the larger of the mainland’s two equity bourses.
Source: Shanghai Daily