A magnet-like statue in Shanghai's Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone symbolizes the great attraction of the area to the world. (Photo: Cai Xianmin/GT)

The global economic situation is offering Shanghai opportunities to further its ambitions to become an international financial hub by 2020, the director of the Shanghai Financial Services Office said at a press conference held by the municipal government Tuesday.

"Since the Chinese mainland started to open up its financial market, the country has been following a path capable of intercepting the risks from outside, by putting foreign institutions in a relatively separate operating environment from their mother companies and under the watch of Chinese supervisors," Fang Xinghai told reporters.

Shanghai's ambition to be a global financial hub will benefit largely from recent events including the fluctuation in the crude oil price due to the EU's embargo on Iranian oil exports and the debt problems strangling Europe and the US.

Officials were keen to allay fears that Shanghai's rise will eclipse Hong Kong, saying the two cities will act more as partners than competitors.

Zhu Jian, deputy director of the Shanghai Securities Regulatory Bureau, pointed to the Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (RQFII) scheme as an example of how the two cities have worked together.

The scheme, facilitating return of offshore yuan to the Chinese securities market, "assures more space for collaboration between the two hubs," Zhu said.

"Hong Kong's role as an offshore yuan center helps introduce the currency to the world. This is complementary to Shanghai's efforts to establish a more sophisticated, regulated and transparent internal financial system," Yu Wenjian, director of the Survey and Statistical Research Department at the Shanghai Head Office of the People's Bank of China, said Tuesday.

"The mainland's huge yuan market and Hong Kong's relaxed control over capital flow will do more to make the yuan more internationalized," Yu added.

Norman Chan, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, was quoted as saying by the China Business News Tuesday that "Shanghai and Hong Kong are not bonded by direct competition, a win-win situation can be seen for both parties in the future that when the mainland's control is loosened, there will be a great amount of opportunities from enterprises that have demand for cross-border financial service."

The Shanghai Municipal Government said that, by 2015, the total turnover volume for city-based financial markets such as securities, futures, bonds and gold is expected to stand at 1,000 trillion yuan ($158.32 trillion).

"We set the goal based on a forecast that the turnover increase rate seen from 2006 to 2010 will continue in the coming years," Fang Xinghai said.