City authorities have reportedly allowed hundreds of financial institutions to resume work.
About 864 financial institutions in Shanghai were granted approval to resume operations, according to a «Reuters» report that cited a note published by the Shanghai Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau.
The note included institutions such as the country's central bank interbank funding center (also known as the China Foreign Exchange Trade System), the Shanghai stock and futures exchanges as well as largest Chinese banks, among them the Bank of Communications (BOCOM), Bank of China (BoC), the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) and China Construction Bank (CCB).
Priority was given to financial institutions conducting nationwide businesses and those that provide key financial support for companies. It also allowed those managed in a «closed-loop» to reopen – a bubble-like arrangement that isolates workers and prevents Covid transmission.
Shanghai Reopening
Earlier this week, Shanghai authorities said they would look at a step-wise easing of the strict lockdown related to Covid.
Shanghai has been under stringent Covid-related restrictions. More than 20,000 bankers, traders, and other workers have slept in their office towers in the Lujiazui business district since late March as a way of maintaining financial operations in China’s financial center.
Authorities plan to publish additional names on a weekly basis.
