Chinese and foreign financial institutions have been pouring into Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in recent months, looking for opportunities under China's "One Belt and One Road" (B&R) initiative, local media reported on Monday.

In the past week, two banks, Bank of Beijing and Pakistan's Habib Bank, opened branches in Urumqi, the regional capital of Xinjiang, xinjiangnet.com reported.

Wang Yu, a top executive at the Bank of Beijing branch in Urumqi, said that the bank first came to Xinjiang in 2015 to "seize the major opportunities of the Belt and Road," according to the report. 

Wang noted the bank has been involved in financing some infrastructure projects in the Urumqi.

Xinjiang has been investing heavily in infrastructure in recent years as part of the B&R initiative. The regional government has set a target to invest 1.5 trillion yuan (218.3 billion U.S. dollars) in fixed assets in 2017, the Xinhua News Agency reported on March 7.

The region's economic growth surged in 2016, with its GDP growing 7.6 percent, 0.9 percentage point higher than the national average of 6.7 percent, the Xinjiang regional government announced on February 13. 

Habib Bank, one of the largest private banks in Pakistan, is eyeing on opportunities particularly under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a key component of the B&R initiative, a top executive said in the report.

Xinjiang is the starting point of the CPEC, which links the region with the Gwadar port in Pakistan and has an estimated total infrastructure investment of 45 billion U.S. dollars. "We have always been very active on the frontline of the CPEC," the bank official was quoted as saying.

These were just the latest examples of financial institutions entering Xinjiang to set up ground work for opportunities that could stem from the B&R. 

At the end of 2016, there were 144 financial institutions in the region, spanning 15 different categories, including personal banking and investment banking, according to the report. Xinjiang's banking sector raised 293.8 billion yuan (42.8 billion U.S. dollars) for B&R projects in the region in 2016, up 16.18 percent.

Xinjiang has also stepped up efforts in recent months to cultivate local firms to reach larger capital markets. On January 5, the Xinjiang regional government signed a agreement with the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). The agreement gives companies based in Xinjiang a "green expressway" to be listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, the Securities Times reported on February 25.

As of Sunday, Xinjiang was home to 50 listed firms, according to the xinjiangnet.com report, which cited data from the local branch of the CSRC. 

Email: zhanglingxiao@nbd.com.cn