A FOUNDATION-LAYING ceremony was held Wednesday for the new headquarters of the Shenzhen branch of China Merchants Bank in the city s central business district (CBD) in Futian District, accelerating the city s development of the area into a financial center known as Shenzhen s Wall Street.
Li Lin, director of the city s financial office, said at the ceremony that the financial center of the CBD would be completed in three years when a number of financial companies move into their new headquarters in the area.
China Merchants Bank is one of many financial institutions building new headquarters in the area. In 2009, China Life Insurance Co. acquired land parcels of around 23,000 square meters for 2.32 billion yuan (US$337 million), on which it is building a 100-meter-tall office building.
The Shenzhen Stock Exchange will be relocated to the CBD from its existing location in Luohu District.
Sino Life Insurance Co., CDB Leasing Co., Minsheng Financial Leasing Co. and a number of funds such as Nanfang and Bosera have also purchased land in the CBD, at prices of around 8,000 yuan per square meter much lower than other properties in the area, according to Chinese-language reports.
Residential apartments in the area go for around 25,000 yuan per square meter and offices commonly sell at 40,000 yuan per square meter.
This illustrates the support the city government is lending to financial service companies seeking to set up offices in the Futian CBD, Chinese-language media said. (SD News)
