Contributing over 40 percent of its GDP, the financial sector has underpinned the high-quality growth momentum for Hexi district, one of the key parts  of downtown Tianjin.

Its financial sector development has featured a remarkable industrial scale, large player quantities, comprehensive services and promising development trends.

Leveraging its advantageous financial sector, Hexi aims to lead Tianjin’s efforts in building a national model operation zone for financial innovation, said Hu Xueming, head of the district, at a news conference on Thursday.

In 2021, Hexi saw the added value of the financial industry grow 2.9 percent to hit 41.98 billion yuan($6.29 billion), according to local authorities.

In the first quarter of the year, the added value of the industry increased by 1.8 percent year-on-year, reaching10.34 billion yuan, or 42.4 percent of the district’s GDP.

By taking over more financial institutions from Beijing’s dissolution of non-capital functions, the district has gathered more than 1,000 industrial players of all kinds to form clusters.

A complete financial industry system dominated by banks, securities and insurance and supplemented by other new financial formats has been formed.

The financial support for the real economy has been markedly strengthened. Since 2021, about 30 docking meetings have been held to deepen liaisons between banks and enterprises. The meetings have helped channel some 22 billion yuan into more than 100 small- and micro-enterprises. This year, the district is designated to carry out a trial of the application of the digital renminbi.