New polices to woo MNCs to set up HQs in Shanghai

SHANGHAI will promote the development of regional headquarters of multinational corporations in the municipality, local authorities said.

“Shanghai is home to more than 700 regional headquarters of multinational corporations, and it has long been the city with the most regional headquarters and foreign-funded research and development centers of such enterprises in the Chinese mainland,” said Yang Chao, deputy director of Shanghai Municipal Committee of Commerce.

“The previous criteria for verifying regional headquarters of multinational corporations do not match the assetlight strategy of the companies. We hope to attract more regional headquarters to settle in the city and to expand their functions as well as speed up upgrading via the new policies,” said Yang.

The requirement for the total assets of parent companies of regional headquarters has been adjusted to US$200 million, according to the policies.

Meanwhile, Shanghai will improve investment convenience for multinational corporations, relaxing the conditions for foreign investors in establishing investment companies.

To further facilitate R&D, Shanghai also plans to add renowned foreign trademarks that are vulnerable to infringement to the city’s key protection list, so as to provide better intellectual property protection services for the regional headquarters.

There are also measures on improving convenience for regional headquarters of multinational corporations in trade and logistics. For instance, the chain enterprises affiliated to regional headquarters in some pilot areas may share the same business license with multiple business addresses.

In the first seven months of this year, 4,105 new foreign-funded projects were launched in Shanghai, up 58.3 percent over the same period in 2018.

The commercial services sector has posted actual foreign investment reaching US$3.325 billion with regional headquarters as the main source, accounting for nearly one third of the total, making it the city’s largest area for utilizing foreign investment in the first seven months.

As for research and development, the city will strengthen the administrative protection of intellectual property and optimize the service system.

By the end of July, Shanghai had 696 regional headquarters.

(Agencies)