Shanghai, however, still faces a struggle in attaining that goal. One of the disadvantages China's most populous city faces is that China's key economic policymakers and most top local and foreign banks are based in the capital city of Beijing.

Below is a list of key financial institutions in China and where they are based.

BEIJING

- The People's Bank of China PBOC.L. The central bank has its market-related operations headquartered in Shanghai but the top policymakers, including the governor, are based in Beijing.

- The State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the currency regulator, which is a unit of the central bank.

- All three financial industry regulators -- the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission and the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

- The National Development and Reform Commission, a powerful central planning agency responsible for formulating economic and social strategies.

- All the top four state-owned banks: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (1398.HK) (601398.SS), China Construction Bank (601939.SS) (0939.HK), Bank of China (3988.HK) (601988.SS) and Agricultural Bank of China (1288.HK) (601288.SS).

- China headquarters of most of the major Western investment banks, including JPMorgan (JPM.N), UBS (UBSN.VX), Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) and Goldman Sachs (GS.N).

SHANGHAI

- The Shanghai Stock Exchange, the country's biggest bourse.

- The Shanghai Futures Exchange, the country's biggest commodities exchange.

- China Financial Futures Exchange, the country's only such futures market. Currently there is only one product being traded -- the CSI300 Index Future for 300 Shanghai- and Shenzhen-listed firms.

- The PBOC's Shanghai head office, which is in charge mainly of the central bank's market-related functions, such as its bill sales and overseeing the interbank market.

- China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS), an interbank market under the central bank, where trading in the yuan and other currency pairs, lending and borrowing rates, and government bonds takes place.

- Bank of Communications (601328.SS) (3328.HK), the country's fifth-biggest lender.

- The locally incorporated commercial banking units of a number of major Western banks, including Citigroup (C.N), HSBC Holdings (HSBA.L) (0005.HK), Standard Chartered (STAN.L) and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L).

- Morgan Stanley (MS.N) has moved its China headquarters to Shanghai from Beijing.

(Compiled by Kazunori Takada; Editing by Jason Subler)

• A Permanent Economic Emergency