A car passes through an expressway toll station as it enters the China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone in Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province, on March 31, 2017. [Photo/IC] 

A conference to promote cooperation between foreign-invested banks and the China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in Zhoushan was recently held in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province. 

Twelve world-renowned foreign-invested banks in Zhejiang, including HSBC, Standard Chartered, Citibank and SMBC, attended the meeting and expressed willingness to cooperate with Zhoushan after being briefed on Zhejiang FTZ. 

They expressed optimism about Zhoushan's future development largely due to the city's strength in bulk commodities such as oil and gas. 

According to the city's financial authorities, the meeting was attended by more foreign-invested banks than any other promotional meetings of Zhejiang FTZ since the zone was established more than two years ago. 

Foreign-invested banks have a unique edge when it comes to the trade of international bulk commodities, cross-border settlements and asset management. With Zhejiang FTZ's construction of an oil and gas industrial chain, more and more famous oil and gas multinationals are setting up operations in the zone, creating an urgent need for financial services from such banks, officials said.

The conference is part of the zone's effort to attract banks to support Zhoushan and help the zone enhance its international financial services.

The provincial financial authorities stated that they will support foreign-invested banks in setting up branches in the zone and facilitate business cooperation between them.