I. Overview:
In 2010, the State Council approved the construction of the cross-strait regional financial service center in Xiamen. In March 2011, the construction of Xiamen Cross-strait Regional Financial Center was written into the outline of the National 12th Five-Year Plan and became a national strategy. In the 14th Five-Year Plan of Xiamen and the proposal of the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035, it is specified to build a regional financial center that serves both sides of the Taiwan Strait and also Southeast Asia, connects the Maritime Silk Road, and is opened to the globe, as well as an important headquarters economy cluster on the southeast coast that brings together the headquarters of enterprise groups and investment centers, R&D centers, financial centers and settlement centers, etc.
The Cross-Strait Regional Financial Center serves as an important window for Xiamen Special Economic Zone to implement comprehensive supporting reforms, deepen cross-strait exchanges and cooperation and give full rein to the pioneering role in cross-strait relations. It is also an important platform for building a demonstration city of innovative, coordinated, green, open, and shared development, building a cross-strait exchange window city, and implementing the bay city strategy.
(I) Area Orientation
For the purpose of implementing the decision and arrangement of the CPC Central Committee, Xiamen has planned a 22.8-sq.km Cross-strait Regional Financial Center Area in the east of Xiamen Island as a specific space carrier of the financial center. It borders Huandao Road on the east, the Conference & Exhibition Center on the south, Yunding Road on the west and Wuyuan Bay on the north, and spans two administrative districts of Siming and Huli.
Featured with finance, high-end service and headquarters office functions, the Area will be built into a modern and international financial cluster, high-end business office area and new urban area in the eastern part of the island with high quality development and sound ecological conservation.
(II) Spatial Layout
The Area comprises one core, two belts and five clusters in spatial layout.
One Core: Wutong High-end Business District
With a total planned coverage area of 4.4 sq.km and a gross floor area of 7 million sqm, Wutong High-end Business District is composed of four parts: Wutong Financial Business District Phase I (Cluster A), Phase II (core start-up area), Phase III and the Gateway of Xiamen. It has attracted the settlement of ITG Group headquarters, Xiamen Airlines headquarters, Jinyuan Group headquarters, Xiamen Bank headquarters, Winland Group regional headquarters, Bank of Ganzhou regional headquarters, Guoshi Group regional headquarters, Yango Longking Belt and Road headquarters, showing a prominent clustering effect of well-known financial institutions and large enterprises.
Two belts: financial and high-end business office belt, coastal tourism belt around the island
Financial and high-end business office belt: Qianpu Conference & Exhibition Cluster, Guanyinshan Business Cluster, Wutong High-end Business District and Wuyuan Bay Business Operation Center are distributed along Huandao Road and spread from south to north, forming a belt of front-line business offices with pleasant sea view.
Coastal tourism belt around the island: A belt of tourism and leisure functional areas is formed along the eastern coastline of the island, providing tourism, sightseeing and leisure services for the area and the city. There have been a number of tourism and leisure projects completed, including Cross-strait Tourism Service Center, Xiamen-Jinmen Wutong Terminal, Guanyin Mountain Coastal Tourism Zone, and Light House Park. This belt has now become the "golden coast" for sightseeing and tourism in Xiamen.
Five clusters
Qianpu Conference & Exhibition Cluster: It has a total planned coverage area of about 2.7 sq.km and is expected to become a high-end financial and commercial zone for financial enterprises, regulatory agencies and the modern conference & exhibition industry.
Guanyinshan Business Cluster: It has a total planned coverage area of 2.1 sq.km and will be built into a concentration zone of corporate headquarters with well-established supporting facilities and a beautiful environment.
Software Park Cluster: With a coverage area of about 2.3 sq.km, it is primarily designed as a software information industrial park and featured with a highlighted layout of software research and development, big data, block chain, artificial intelligence, information security, animation design, financial technology and other sectors.
Wuyuan Bay Big Health Cluster: With a total coverage area of about 5 sq.km, it is primarily designed for tourism and culture, medical and health care, sports and leisure industries.
Lakeside Ecological Living Cluster: It has a total planned coverage area of 3.7 sq.km, including a water surface area of 1.03 sq.km. It is designed as an urban complex zone primarily for high-end ecological residences and secondarily for commercial and financial facilities.
II. Characteristics and Construction Achievements of the Area
As of the end of 2021, the Cross-strait Financial Center Area has already attracted 7,383 enterprises with a total registered capital of 268.512 billion yuan. A number of famous enterprises have settled down here, including CCIG, JD, China Life Insurance, C&D, ITG Group, Tefang Group, Jinyuan Group, Xiamen Airlines, New China Life Insurance, and Winland Group. It has gradually become a concentration of capital.
The Area fully utilizes its exemplary role as a pioneering regional financial center for cross-strait relations to attract cross-strait financial institutions for concentrative development. It is home to Xiamen Bank (first city commercial bank in Chinese mainland directly held by Taiwanese shareholders), JMX Consumer Finance Co., Ltd. (first cross-strait joint venture consumption finance company), Fubon Property & Casualty Insurance (first legal person property and casualty insurance company in Fujian Province), Jinyuan President Securities Co,. Ltd. (first cross-strait joint venture brokerage firm), Golden Trust Sinopac Fund Management Co., Ltd. (first cross-strait joint venture securities investment fund company in Xiamen), FCB Leasing Co., Ltd. (first Taiwan-funded financial leasing company in Xiamen), and other Taiwan-funded financial institutions. It has created a number of leading achievements in terms of cross-strait relations, formed a good cross-strait financial agglomeration effect and initially built a bridge and a “financial lounge” for cross-strait financial interconnection.
(I) Financial gathering area
The Cross-strait Regional Financial Center Area has a concentration of financial industries and provides favorable financial policies, with significant cross-strait characteristics. It has attracted the settlement of the People's Bank of China Xiamen Central Sub-branch, Jinyuan Group, Xiamen International Trust, Xiamen Venture Capital, national "XiYiDai" platform, Cross-Strait Equity Exchange, China Merchants Bank, Huaxia Bank, Ping An Bank, China Export & Credit Insurance, New China Life Insurance, Industrial Securities, Ruida Futures, CCIG, Sequoia Fashion Technology Fund, Hillhouse Ruiqi Fund, baigebao.com, as well as the cross-strait joint ventures Jinyuan President Securities Co,. Ltd., JMX Consumer Finance Co., Ltd., Xiamen Bank, Golden Trust Sinopac Fund Management Co., Ltd., King Dragon Life Insurance, Fubon Property & Casualty Insurance, and other financial management institutions, banks, securities, insurance, futures, funds and platforms. The Goodstone Fund Town and Xiamen Financial Technology Industrial Park within the Area have become the distinctive financial investment promotion platform of Xiamen.
(1) Goodstone Fund Town
Located at Xiamen Airlines Goodstone Art Business Center, this project is the first municipal fund town in Xiamen jointly built by Xiamen Financial Supervision Bureau, Management Committee of Xiamen Area of China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone and Huli District government. It is also the only fund gathering place in Xiamen with the superimposed effect of support policies for private equity investment funds and private securities investment funds. It lies in the heart of Xiamen Cross-strait Regional Financial Center Area in a coverage area of 23,000 sqm, and enjoys convenient traffic and well-established supporting facilities. There is public business service space available for the fund industry, where fund enterprises can benefit from a package of support measures such as settlement rewards, investment incentives, rent subsidies, preferential income tax and risk subsidies.
(2) Financial Technology Industrial Park
The Financial Technology Industrial Park is a distinctive financial technology industrial demonstration zone jointly built by Xiamen Financial Supervision Bureau and Siming District Government to boost the integrated development of financial and technology industries in Xiamen and enhance the level of financial services to the real economy. There are currently five buildings: Siming Design Center, Huaxin Jiasheng, Rida International, Tefang Portman, and Vanke Creative Commune. With a focus on blockchain, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and other financial technology frontier areas, the park plans to introduce leading financial technology enterprises at home and abroad to form an influential financial technology industry cluster. Enterprises settling here can enjoy policy support in six areas, i.e. rent subsidy, business contribution reward, living allowance, individual income tax reward, financial talent reward, and financial technology industry investment fund support.
(II) High-end business office area
In addition to the financial industry, the Area is also a collection of major corporate headquarters, where there are professional buildings and distinctive buildings built to house the concentrated development of headquarters economy and new economy.
Companies that have settled in: Xiamen Airlines, C&D Group, TIG Group, Tefang Group, Information Group, R&B Group, Affordable Housing Group, Yango Longking, Guoshi Group, Zijin Mining, ANTA, SEVEN, PEAK, Septwolves, ERKE, JOMOO, Xstep, JOEONE, Dell, Meitu, Meiya Pico, 4399, G-bits, Meiyou, etc.
(III) New urban area in the eastern part of the island
The Cross-strait Regional Financial Center Area boasts a pleasant ecological environment, convenient transportation facilities and well-established living facilities, making it a new urban center business district suitable for living, doing business and industry-city integration.
III. Advantages of Regional Supporting Facilities
1. Pleasant ecological environment
Lying in the embrace of the sea, 70% of the office and business areas here can enjoy a beautiful sea view. The Area is home to Wuyuan Bay Wetland Park (the largest wetland park in Xiamen), Wutong Bay (the largest bay) and Light House Park, Gaolin Park and other leisure recreational green parks.
2. Convenient transportation
The Area has formed a road network with "four verticals and four horizontals" as the backbone, consisting of Yunding North Road, Jinshan Road, Island Ring Boulevard, Huandao Road, Wuyuanwan Road, Xianyue Road, Jinzhong Road and Lvling Road. Xiang'an Tunnel and the Second East Passage (under construction) offer convenient access to and from the island. Metro Line 2 has been completed, which runs through the north and south, and Metro Line 5 that connects the east and west is now under planning. The Area is also close to the international airport, and accommodates the Kinmen-Xiamen Mini Three Links that pass through the strait.
3. Talent resources
The Area is close to Xiamen National Accounting Institute and Xiamen University. It is leading domestically in the majors of finance, accounting, fiscal and statistics, which constitute the sustainable sources of talents for industrial development. A number of rental apartments for financial talents have been built in the Area. Meanwhile, there will be a large number of affordable rental housing and market-oriented rental apartments offered to provide a low-cost and high-quality living environment for financial talents.
4. Living facilities
The Area adheres to the concept of "green space is available within 10 meters, commercial facilities are reached within 100 meters, and supporting facilities are found within 1,000 meters". It is well equipped with high-end medical resources such as Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University (Xiamen Branch), Humanity Hospital, Hongai Maternity Hospital, Xiamen Heart Center, Xiamen Eye Center, and Xiamen Stomatological Hospital; a wealth of educational resources such as Xiamen Music School, Shuangshi Middle School Siming Campus, Guanyinshan Music School, and Xiamen No.1 High School International Trade School (under construction); abundant sports and leisure resources such as Aowangcheng, Sailboat Club, yacht marina, and Wuyuan Sports Park under planning and construction; as well as more than 10 high-end hotel resources such as Shangri-La, InterContinental, Lohkah, DoubleTree Hilton, Wutong Fliport, and JW Marriott that is under negotiation for introduction.
IV. Direction of Investment Promotion
Priority will be given to finance, headquarters office, software information and fintech, cultural creativity, film and television production, tourism conference and exhibition, commerce and trade, health and medical services and other high-end services.
The Cross-strait Regional Financial Service Center has been insisting on focusing on investment promotion to boost development. 2021 recorded an additional settlement of 4,188 enterprises, with a registered capital of 104.061 billion yuan. A number of key projects have been implemented, including Three Gorges Capital No. 1 Equity Investment Fund Partnership employee shareholding platform, Taiwan Strait Fund project, Xiamen International Bank Headquarters land project, Guoshi Southern Fujian Regional Headquarters land project, JOMOO Global Operation Center land project, C&D Yaoze Headquarters project, Zijin Zixin No. 2 Investment Fund, Chehejia (Li Auto) Investment Fund, and Missfresh Xiamen Regional Headquarters.
IV. Policy Support
The Area offers double policy preferences of municipal policies and special policies of the Area, namely preferential policies of Xiamen in terms of land for headquarters enterprises, financial industry, talent policy, information industry, tourism and exhibition, etc., and special policies of the Area in terms of equity investment enterprises in the fund town, financial technology industrial park and private securities investment fund development, etc.
●Several Measures of Xiamen Municipal People's Government for Supporting the Development of Financial Industry (Summary) (X.F. [2019] No. 280)
Headquarters of financial institutions
The headquarters of financial institutions newly incorporated in Xiamen or newly relocated from outside the city will be given lump-sum settlement rewards of up to 50 million yuan as per different types:
Those with paid-in capital of 50 million (inclusive) to 200 million yuan will be rewarded 5 million yuan;
Those with 200 million (inclusive) to 500 million yuan will be rewarded 8 million yuan;
Those with 500 million (inclusive) to 1 billion yuan will be rewarded 12 million yuan;
Those with 1 billion yuan (inclusive) will be rewarded 20 million yuan; and for those with over 1 billion yuan, the reward will be increased by 2 million yuan for every additional 100 million yuan.
For enterprises in Xiamen that merge and reorganize financial institutions from outside the city, and the registration place and the main premises of the reorganized financial institutions move into Xiamen, a lump-sum M&A reward of up to 10 million yuan will be given as per different types of financial institutions:
Those with a M&A transaction amount of 1 billion (inclusive) to 3 billion yuan will be rewarded 2 million yuan;
Those with 3 billion (inclusive) to 5 billion yuan will be rewarded 5 million yuan; andthose with above 5 billion yuan (inclusive) will be rewarded 10 million yuan.
There is also policy support for specialized financial companies, regional branches that specialize in funds, etc.
●Measures of Xiamen for the Implementation of the Financial Talent Plan (Summary) (X.F.B. [2019] No. 87)
Leading financial talents in the industry
Reward standard: The existing industry-leading financial talents will be rewarded 1 million yuan; and the introduced ones will be rewarded 2 million yuan.
Each entity may recommend one person to apply within 5 years; if the affirmed talent has left office during his/her term of office, the entity may recommend another person after his/her departure.
Senior elite financial talents
Reward standard: The introduced senior elite financial talents will be rewarded 1.6 million yuan; and the existing ones will be rewarded 800,000 yuan;
Each entity may recommend one person to apply each year.
Young backbone financial talents
Reward standard: The existing young backbone financial talents will be rewarded 400,000 yuan; and the introduced ones will be rewarded 800,000 yuan.
Each entity may recommend 1-3 persons to apply each year subject to the scale, tax and other conditions.
Talents introduced flexibly
Reward standard: The financial talents introduced flexibly whose service time is over half a year will be given a subsidiary of up to 150,000 yuan at 15% of the total personal salary according to their working hours in Xiamen, actual contribution, and salary package, etc.
Taiwan talents
Taiwan financial talents who hold middle-level and above management positions in financial institutions, large financial holding companies or financial research institutes (think tanks) registered in Xiamen, and whose annual salary is more than 6 times the average salary of on-the-job employees in urban entities of Xiamen last year, will be given an annual subsidy of 80,000 yuan.
●Notice of Xiamen Municipal People's Government on Issuing the Several Measures for Promoting the Development of Equity Investment Industry (Summary) (X.F. [2019] No. 279)
Equity investment enterprises
The corporate equity investment enterprises newly incorporated in Xiamen or newly relocated from outside the city will be given lump-sum settlement rewards according to the amount of their paid-in registered capital:
Those with paid-in registered capital of more than 100 million yuan (inclusive) will be rewarded 800,000 yuan;
those with more than 500 million yuan (inclusive) will be rewarded 1.5 million yuan;
those with more than 1 billion yuan (inclusive) will be rewarded 3 million yuan; and those with more than 2 billion yuan (inclusive) will be rewarded 5 million yuan.
For partnership equity investment enterprises newly incorporated in Xiamen or newly relocated from outside the city, the equity investment management enterprise entrusted by them will be given lump-sum settlement rewards for the assets under management according to the actual scale of funds raised by the enterprises:
Those with actual raised funds of more than 100 million yuan (inclusive) will be rewarded 500,000 yuan;
those with more than 500 million yuan (inclusive) will be rewarded 1 million yuan;
those with more than 1 billion yuan (inclusive) will be rewarded 1.5 million yuan;
those with more than 2 billion yuan (inclusive) will be rewarded 3 million yuan; and those with 3 billion yuan (inclusive) will be rewarded 5 million yuan.
●Opinions of Xiamen Municipal People's Government on Accelerating the High-quality Development of Headquarters Economy (Summary) (X.W.F. [2020] No. 12)
Headquarters enterprises
Reward for business contribution: Rewards for business contribution will be given for ten consecutive years according to the local retained portion of annual enterprise income tax and value-added tax from the year of recognition.
For headquarters enterprises, for the portion within 50 million yuan in first five years, the reward proportion will be 70%;
For the portion of more than 50 million yuan, the reward proportion will be 80%; and the reward proportion in the last five years will be halved respectively.
Growth enterprises
Reward for business contribution: For the portion within 100 million yuan in first five years, the reward proportion will be 60%;
For the portion of more than 100 million yuan, the reward proportion will be 70%; and the reward proportion in the last five years will be halved respectively.
Enterprises whose local retained portion of annual enterprise income tax and value-added tax reaches 50 million yuan for the first time will be given a lump-sum reward of 5 million yuan; and those reaching 100 million yuan for the first time will be given a lump-sum reward of 10 million yuan. The cumulative maximum amount of rewards available to the same enterprise shall not exceed 10 million yuan.
●Opinions of Xiamen Municipal People's Government on Accelerating the High-quality Development of Headquarters Economy (X.W.F. [2020] No. 12)
The headquarters or regional headquarters applying for the land shall promise a local retained portion of not less than 80 million yuan of the actually paid income tax and value-added tax in Xiamen every year for not less than 10 years from the third year at the least after winning the bid for the land.
The headquarters or regional headquarters that meet the requirements may apply for obtaining the headquarters project land with the capacity building area of up to 50,000 sqm and the minimum division unit of not less than 500 sqm through bidding, auction and listing.
They shall undertake to have a self-holding proportion of not less than 70% within ten years from the date of acquiring the property right, and shall not change the use. The remaining 30% can only be sold until the requirements related to the destocking cycle of commercial office inventory are met. For those promising a local retained portion of more than 100 million yuan of income tax and value-added tax in Xiamen, an increase of 5,000 sqm of capacity building area can be applied for every additional 10 million yuan.
●Measures for the Development of Equity Investment Enterprises in the Fund Town of Xiamen Free Trade Area
Settlement reward
Corporate equity investment enterprises
Those with paid-in registered capital of more than 50 million yuan (inclusive) will be rewarded 400,000 yuan;
Those with more than 100 million yuan (inclusive) will be rewarded 800,000 yuan;
Those with more than 500 million yuan (inclusive) will be rewarded 1.5 million yuan;
Those with more than 1 billion yuan (inclusive) will be rewarded 3 million yuan; and
Those with more than 2 billion yuan (inclusive) will be rewarded 5 million yuan.
Partnership equity investment enterprises
Those with actual raised funds of more than 50 million yuan (inclusive) will be rewarded 200,000 yuan;
Those with more than 100 million yuan (inclusive) will be rewarded 500,000 yuan;
Those with more than 500 million yuan (inclusive) will be rewarded 1 million yuan;
Those with more than 1 billion yuan (inclusive) will be rewarded 1.5 million yuan;
Those with more than 2 billion yuan (inclusive) will be rewarded 3 million yuan; and those with 3 billion yuan (inclusive) will be rewarded 5 million yuan.
Operation reward
① For enterprises whose amount of equity investment in entity enterprises in Xiamen reaches more than 30 million yuan (inclusive) and who have been identified as qualified, an operation reward will be given at 1% of the amount of investment in the enterprise in Xiamen to the equity investment management enterprise entrusted by them, with a cumulative amount of up to 20 million yuan.
② A reward will be given at 90% of the local retained portion of the enterprise income tax or individual income paid on the basis of the equity transfer income (including the equity transfer income and the investment income share obtained by the management enterprise) during the period of existence.
Rent subsidy
Those who rent office space for their own use will be given rent-free support for a certain area for three consecutive years.
The subsidy amount shall be up to 1 million yuan per year.
The identified private equity investment fund enterprises can enjoy the above rent subsidy by reference.
Risk subsidy
For equity investment enterprises investing in micro, small and medium-sized innovative enterprises at the start-up stage in Xiamen that suffer investment losses resulted by liquidation or impairment withdrawal due to investment failure, a risk subsidy will be given at 20% of their actual investment losses. An individual project will be given a subsidy of up to 2 million yuan, while the cumulative risk subsidy for the same equity investment enterprise shall not exceed 5 million yuan.
Talent reward
For senior managements and elites in the Fund Town who pay more than 80,000 yuan of annual individual income tax for their wages and salaries will be rewarded according to the local retained portion of the individual income tax. Those with annual individual income tax less than 80,000 yuan (inclusive) will be rewarded at 50%; those with 80,000 to 250,000 yuan will be rewarded at 75%; and those with more than 250,000 yuan will be rewarded at 90%.
●Administration Measures for the Development of Xiamen Financial Technology Industrial Park
Applicable objects: Financial technology enterprises registered in Xiamen Financial Technology Industrial Park, paying taxes in the city and having independent legal personality.
Rent subsidy: A subsidy will be given at 15% or 30% of the actual rent paid annually, depending on the type of enterprise, for three years from the month when the first VAT is paid.
Business contribution: For those whose local retained portion of annual enterprise income tax and value-added tax reaches 50 million yuan within five years from the year of the first VAT payment, a reward will be given at 60-80% for the retained portion according to the ladder.
Living allowance: For qualified talents of bachelor's degree, master's degree and doctoral degree, an allowance will be given at 20,000 yuan, 30,000 yuan and 50,000 yuan per person, respectively.
