Insights from China Development Forum: TEDA’s Innovative Practices in Modern Service Industry

The 2025 Annual Meeting of the China Development Forum has concluded successfully. Participating enterprises ranging from state-owned giants like Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China Minmetals Group, and CITIC Group to private-sector leaders such as JD.com, Hillhouse Capital, and XPeng Motors, have all deepened their roots in TEDA and achieved significant success in modern service sectors like finance, maritime economy, and digital healthcare. What drives these industry titans to put their focus on TEDA?

As Tianjin’s only and one of the few fully licensed financial zones in China, TEDA has emerged as a northern hub for financial innovation. It hosts 158 licensed financial institutions and 1,500 fund and asset management firms, with a managed asset scale exceeding 3.5 trillion yuan. Commercial factoring assets here account for over 20% of the national total. Prestigious institutions like ICBC Financial Leasing, CITIC Leasing, Tianhong Asset Management, Kincheng Bank, Bohai Securities, Hillhouse Capital, and XPeng Factoring have taken root and thrived in TEDA, consistently setting new industry benchmarks.

ICBC Financial Leasing Co., Ltd., a benchmark in China’s financial leasing industry, established its presence in TEDA in 2007 as ICBC’s wholly-owned subsidiary. Approved by the State Council as a pilot project and licensed by the CBIRC, it became China’s first bank-affiliated financial leasing company. Today, it has developed three business pillars across aviation, maritime, and comprehensive leasing sectors, pioneering domestic “firsts” in bonded leasing, cross-border leasing, and syndicated leasing. The company has also spearheaded innovations such as two-way RMB capital pool pilots and centralized forex operations for multinational corporations. These innovation practices not only fuel its growth but epitomize TEDA’s thriving financial ecosystem.

CITIC Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. has also achieved rapid growth in TEDA. Established in 2015 as CITIC Bank’s wholly-owned subsidiary, it focuses on financial leasing for clean energy, eco-friendly infrastructure, advanced equipment manufacturing, shipping, and aircraft sectors, achieving groundbreaking results. In late 2024, CITIC Leasing won the First Prize of Tianjin’s financial innovation cases serving the real economy with “Case Study: Direct Operating Lease Transaction of 22 × 84,500 DWT Multipurpose Pulp Carriers,” which provided tailored financing solutions to COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers through operational leasing, setting a benchmark for finance empowering the real economy. Such exemplary cases abound in TEDA. In February 2025, CITIC Bank announced an increase of its capital injection to CITIC Leasing’s registered capital from 4 billion yuan to 10 billion yuan, a move enhancing its competitiveness and reflecting CITIC Group’s confidence in TEDA’s financial strength.

The sustained reinvestment and business expansion of these industry giants underscore TEDA’s robust manufacturing foundation, abundant financial resources, and sophisticated financial regulatory and service framework. In recent years, TEDA has leveraged its core sectors to advance “industry + finance”. We pioneered tailored supply chain finance models to combine finance with sectors like automotive, energy, pharmaceuticals and smart manufacturing repectively. Such synergy not only empowers the real economy but also fuels financial innovation, attracting unicorns like XPeng Motors to establish financial institutions here.

Similarly, TEDA’s high-end maritime service industry thrives, thanks to the robust manufacturing foundation and the policy synergy of “FTZ + Development Zone + Comprehensive Bonded Zone”. Anchored by two core platforms—the TEDA Maritime Base and Yuxiang International Shipping Tower, over 500 leading enterprises, including Minmetals Freight, Tianjin Port Second Container Terminal, CIMC Logistics, Zhenhua Logistics, PipeChina, China Energy Coal Group, Sinotrans, Aerial Survey Engineering, and Bohai Fine Chemical Co., Ltd. have converged here, forming a high-end maritime service ecosystem spanning shipping finance, maritime law, and full-chain logistics.

Minmetals Logistics Group (Tianjin) Freight Co., Ltd., established by China Minmetals Group in TEDA, epitomizes the dynamic growth of TEDA’s shipping economy. Specializing in international/domestic freight forwarding, non-vessel-operating common carrier (NVOCC), ship agency, and general cargo warehousing, it operates side-by-side with neighboring logistics firms, forging a tight-knit industrial collaboration network. Meanwhile, kicking off trial operations in 2023, the Tianjin International Oil & Gas Trading Center has pioneered the “LNG Order Connect” trading module, expanding maritime service scope and creating new development opportunities for local enterprises.

TEDA is emerging as a magnet for digital healthcare innovation. Over 50 industry leaders including LinkDoc, Cowell Health, JD Health, Genetron Health, and Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Cloud have gathered here, collaboratively building the TEDA Model for internet-based medical healthcare services.

Attracted by TEDA’s premium digital healthcare ecosystem, Cowell Health, a subsidiary of Hillhouse Capital, established its national telemedicine headquarters, Cowell Internet-based Hospital, here. Leveraging 10,000+ offline pharmacies and platforms like Cowell Health Pro and MedExpress, it offers patients end-to-end solutions spanning diagnosis, prescription, and medication delivery. “It took only three months to finish the whole precedure from site selection to offline and online medical licenses," said a Cowell executive, deeply impressed by TEDA’s professional and efficient services.

In 2020, JD Health launched its first offline project in North China, TEDA’s inaugural JD Pharmacy in the Tianjin Binhai New Area. With the help of its robust platform strength, JD Health continues to deepen the integration of internet-based healthcare with physical pharmaceutical industries, delivering efficient medical services to patients. Furthermore, JD Group is expanding its investments in big data and logistics, with the first JD MALL super store set to open in the Binhai New Area in 2025.

From ICBC Financial Leasing and CITIC Leasing’s financial innovations to Cowell’s smart healthcare, from Minmetals Freight’s logistics to JD Group’s cross-sector ventures, the practices of industry giants in TEDA underscore its solid industrial foundation and immense potential as a hub for modern services in North China. In 2024, TEDA’s revenue of large-scale service businesses hit 214.56 billion yuan, driven by full-spectrum financial licensing, diversified platform economies, and shipping economies. This impressive performance is a result of mutual commitment and growth between TEDA and investors. Moving forward, TEDA will continue to unleash innovative momentum, forging an even more remarkable chapter in modern service industry.