section_path: Economy/Financial industry
section_name: Financial industry
paragraph_text: Financial industry
  
  Chengdu is a leading financial hub in the Asia-Pacific region and ranks 35th globally and 6th in China after (Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou) in the 2021 Global Financial Centres Index. Chengdu has attracted a large number of foreign financial institutions, including Citigroup, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, JPMorgan Chase, ANZ and MUFG Bank.
  
  ANZ 's data services center, established in 2011 in Chengdu, employs over 800 people, and in March 2019 the bank recruited further staff to support its data analytics and big data efforts. In 2020, ANZ temporarily repurposed its Chengdu data center to an IT helpdesk, as part of the bank's pandemic response.
  
  Historically, Chengdu has marked its name in the history of financial innovation. The world's first paper currency 'Jiao Zi' was seen in Chengdu in the year 1023, during the Song dynasty.
  
  Now, Chengdu is not only the gateway of Western China for foreign financial institutions, but also a booming town for Chinese domestic financial firms. The Chinese monetary authority, People's Bank of China (China's central bank), set its southwestern China headquarters in Chengdu City. In addition, almost all domestic banks and securities brokerage firms located their regional headquarters or branches in Chengdu. At the same time, the local financial firms of Chengdu are strengthening their presences nationally, notably, Huaxi Securities, Sinolink Securities, and Bank of Chengdu. Moreover, on top of banks and brokerage firms, the flourish of local economy lured more and more financial service firms to the city to capitalise on the economic growth. Grant Thornton, KPMG, PWC and Ernst & Young are the four global accountants and business advisers with Western China head offices in the city.
  
  It is expected that by 2012, value-added financial services will make up 14 percent of the added-value service industry and 7 percent of the regional GDP. By 2015, those figures are expected to grow to 18 percent and 9 percent respectively.