Securing the “14th Five-Year Plan” and Blueprinting the “15th Five-Year Plan” · Guangdong Chapter of High-Quality Development of Local Capital Markets: Financial Vitality Nourishes the Greater Bay Area to Build a “Guangdong Model” for Capital Markets
Guangdong, China’s largest economic province, is also one of the most dynamic regions in terms of capital markets. During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the capital market in Guangdong (excluding Shenzhen, the same below) has achieved remarkable results: the construction of the Greater Bay Area (GBA) international financial hub has advanced steadily, the “technology intensity” of listed companies has continued to rise, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activities have boomed, continuously injecting vitality into the development of new quality productive forces.
As a frontier of reform and opening-up, enterprises in Guangdong have dared to be pioneers, with frequent “first-of-its-kind” initiatives in the capital market and effective implementation of multiple reform and innovation measures. Looking ahead to the “15th Five-Year Plan,” Guangdong’s capital market will build an ecosystem more conducive to comprehensive innovation, forging a “Guangdong Model” that matches its economic status and scientific and technological innovation strength.
GBA Financial Hub Construction Yields Fruitful Results
The Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area proposes building the GBA into an “international financial hub.” Over the past six years, a series of financial support policies have been successively implemented in the GBA, from the “30 Measures for Financial Support to the GBA” to the “30 Financial Measures for Hengqin” and the “30 Financial Measures for Nansha” issued this year, achieving substantial outcomes.
The “Cross-boundary Wealth Management Connect” is one of the key mechanisms promoting financial market connectivity in the GBA. According to the Guangdong Securities Regulatory Bureau, as of the end of September 2025, the number of individual investors participating in the program reached 169,800, including 53,700 from Hong Kong and Macao and 116,100 from the Chinese mainland. Compared with the pre-pilot period for securities firms, the number of investors increased by 34.4%, with mainland investors surging by 57.3%. The implementation of the program has effectively advanced high-level financial opening-up.
The construction of a financial hub is inseparable from strong financial institutions. By the end of September 2025, securities companies in Guangdong had a net capital of 1.3936 trillion yuan, total assets of 10.1 trillion yuan, and net assets of 1.80575 trillion yuan, representing increases of 33.13%, 90.83%, and 43.06% respectively compared with the end of 2020. During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the overall comprehensive strength of financial institutions in Guangdong has significantly enhanced.
Promoting the development of the investment advisory industry is a key link for Guangdong to implement capital market investment-side reforms and an important measure to accelerate the wealth management transformation of industry institutions. In 2023, the Guangdong Securities Regulatory Bureau supported Guangzhou in establishing three institutions: the Guangzhou Investment Advisory College, the Guangzhou Investment Advisory Research Institute, and the Guangzhou Investment Advisory Industry Chain Investment Company. These institutions have provided transformation and empowerment services to 129 securities, fund, bank, and independent sales institutions nationwide.
In June 2025, E Fund Wealth Management Fund Sales (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd., focusing on buyer-side investment advisory business, was officially approved, marking an important layout for leading fund companies to expand their wealth management business. As the first consulting institution in China to obtain a fund sales license since the issuance of the new sales measures, Guangzhou Jingchuan Duoying Investment Consulting Co., Ltd. achieved sales of over 400 million yuan on its opening day, striving to create a “Guangdong Model” for the transformation of investment consulting institutions.
Private equity (PE) funds are also an important force in fostering new quality productive forces and supporting Guangdong’s modernization drive. As of the end of October 2025, national PE funds had invested in 10,351 projects of high-tech enterprises and tech start-ups in Guangdong, with a total investment of 554.55 billion yuan. Acting as “suppliers” and “incubators” of innovative capital, they directly serve the goal of “achieving self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology.”
The Guangzhou Futures Exchange (GZFE), approved for establishment in January 2021, has experienced a complete development cycle during the “14th Five-Year Plan.” Driven by the GZFE, the GBA futures market’s ability to serve the real economy has been significantly enhanced, gradually forming the internationally influential “Guangzhou Price.”
In 2022, the People’s Government of Guangdong Province issued the Implementation Plan for Improving the Spot-Futures Linkage Market System and Promoting the High-Quality Development of the Real Economy, injecting strong momentum into improving the spot-futures linkage trading system, building a complete futures industry chain, and promoting the upgrading of Guangdong’s advantageous industries.
To date, the GZFE has successfully listed futures and options for industrial silicon, lithium carbonate, polysilicon, platinum, and palladium, forming the initial framework of a new energy metal futures sector. It will also steadily advance the research and development and listing of products such as carbon emission rights and electricity.
Capital Injects Impetus into the Vigorous Development of New Quality Productive Forces
Currently, Guangdong is focusing on accelerating the formation of new quality productive forces and promoting a virtuous cycle of “technology-industry-finance.” During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, Guangdong has strongly supported scientific and technological innovation, with IPOs concentrating on emerging sectors and actively injecting capital momentum into the vigorous development of new quality productive forces.
Data obtained by a reporter from the Securities Times from the Guangdong Securities Regulatory Bureau shows that from January 2021 to October 2025, Guangdong added 143 new IPO-listed companies, of which 135 are technology-based enterprises (including high-tech enterprises, “specialized, refined, characteristic, and innovative” enterprises, and strategic emerging industry enterprises), accounting for 94.41%. In terms of financing amount, the “mass entrepreneurship and innovation” (mass innovation and entrepreneurship) sector and the Beijing Stock Exchange’s emerging sector accounted for over 80%.
During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, “first-of-its-kind” cases among sci-tech enterprises in Guangdong have emerged intensively, and the benchmarking and demonstration effect has continued to expand. In October this year, Biotech Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd. was listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board (STAR Market), becoming one of the first registered and listed enterprises in the STAR Market’s growth layer. Tasly Mab Biotechnology Co., Ltd. made a breakthrough as the first accepted enterprise under the fifth set of standards of the STAR Market after its restart, setting a model for the innovative drug track and also the first enterprise to introduce senior professional institutional investors. China Southern Power Grid Digital Technology Co., Ltd., an enterprise in the artificial intelligence field, became the first enterprise on the ChiNext Market to be approved for registration under the green channel mechanism.
Beyond equity financing, since the start of the “14th Five-Year Plan,” the Guangdong Securities Regulatory Bureau has supported various enterprises in the region to issue a total of 118 sci-tech innovation bonds in the exchange bond market, raising 88.68 billion yuan, with an annual growth rate exceeding 120%, showing a steady growth trend. This has been achieved through strengthening policy publicity and guidance and close collaboration among multiple departments.
A distinctive feature of sci-tech innovation bonds is their support for scientific and technological innovation and industrial upgrading. In August 2023, Guangdong Holdings successfully issued the first short-term corporate bond for scientific and technological innovation by a local state-owned enterprise in the market, with a coupon rate hitting a new low for same-term sci-tech innovation corporate bonds. In January 2024, TCL Technology successfully issued the first private enterprise sci-tech innovation digital economy corporate bond in China, setting a new low for coupon rates of same-term private enterprise corporate bonds since 2023 and receiving over 4 times the subscription amount.
After the People’s Bank of China and the China Securities Regulatory Commission jointly issued the Announcement on Matters Concerning Supporting the Issuance of Sci-Tech Innovation Bonds in May 2025, relevant entities in Guangdong responded actively. As of the end of September, 20 enterprises had issued 19.12 billion yuan of sci-tech innovation bonds in the exchange bond market. Not only has the issuer base become more diversified, but financing costs have further decreased and the maturity structure has been significantly optimized. The average issuance rate of sci-tech innovation bonds in the region was 1.91%, 7 basis points lower than the national average in the same period, and the proportion of sci-tech innovation bonds with a maturity of more than 5 years (excluding financial institutions) increased from 71% to 86%, enhancing long-term capital support.
The injection of a series of financial “vitality” is reflected in the high-level growth of R&D expenditures of listed companies. In 2024, the total R&D expenses of listed companies in Guangdong reached 114.379 billion yuan, an increase of 57.89% compared with 72.443 billion yuan in 2020.
“Next, our bureau will build a capital market ecosystem more conducive to supporting comprehensive innovation, strengthen the precise identification and key cultivation of technology-based enterprises in the region, promote technology-based enterprises, especially unprofitable ones, to seize the opportunity for listing and development, help ‘hard technology’ enterprises accelerate their listing process, create a ‘Guangdong Model’ matching our economic status and scientific and technological innovation strength, and continuously improve the quality and efficiency of the regional capital market in serving the development of new quality productive forces,” said a responsible person from the Guangdong Securities Regulatory Bureau.
Policy-Driven M&A Activities Flourish
Since the issuance of the China Securities Regulatory Commission’s “Six Measures for M&A” in 2024, the M&A market in Guangdong has witnessed a surge in vitality. Over 250 listed companies have disclosed or completed industrial M&A transactions with a total scale exceeding 150 billion yuan, and more than 30 major asset restructuring projects have been disclosed or completed, ranking first in the country consistently.
At the beginning of this year, the People’s Government of Guangdong Province issued the Several Measures for High-Quality Development of Capital Markets to Support Guangdong’s Modernization Drive, further encouraging cities across the province to improve support policies for listed companies’ M&A activities and supporting technology-based enterprises and traditional industry enterprises in conducting M&A.
As representative landmark restructuring projects, TCL Technology successfully implemented two 10-billion-yuan-level M&As within a year, acquiring LG Guangzhou Co., Ltd. and Huaxing Semiconductor successively, strengthening Guangdong’s leading position in the semiconductor and display industries. Hanlan Environment acquired Hong Kong-listed company Guangfeng Environmental Protection for 11.1 billion Hong Kong dollars, and its total waste treatment capacity jumped to the top three in the country after the merger. Guangdong Hongda Group completed an “A-share to A-share” acquisition, purchasing Xuefeng Technology for 2.2 billion yuan and becoming a leading enterprise in China’s civil explosive industry chain.
“Currently, the activity of the M&A market is accelerating, and the capital market’s role as the main channel for M&A has become more prominent. Listed companies should seize the opportunity, plan M&A activities in line with their development needs, and truly convert the dividend of capital market reform policies into a strong driving force for their high-quality development,” said a responsible person from the Guangdong Securities Regulatory Bureau.
In terms of regulatory services, the Guangdong Securities Regulatory Bureau, together with the Financial Work Office of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, guided the establishment of the “Guangdong Capital Market M&A Alliance,” which has received strong support from various stock exchanges and relevant provincial departments, with active participation from various professional service institutions. Simultaneously, it guided the Guangdong Listed Companies Association to establish an M&A “target database” to help listed companies improve M&A efficiency. The Guangdong Securities Regulatory Bureau has also established a special working mechanism, forming a service account through visits, seminars, special training, and newsletters, dynamically updating the progress, difficulties, and demands of listed companies’ M&A activities, and formulating promotion plans on a “company-specific basis.”
The Guangdong Securities Regulatory Bureau stated that it will further support and guide listed companies to layout around scientific and technological innovation and industrial upgrading, make good use of policy dividends, adhere to compliance bottom lines, conduct M&A activities in a standardized manner, effectively improve the quality of listed companies, and accelerate the construction of Guangdong’s modern industrial system.
