MAYOR Yang Xiong met with his counterpart, Jeffrey Mountevans, the lord mayor of the City of London, in Shanghai on Monday.

Yang said Shanghai has enjoyed friendly ties with London for 20 years and the two cities have cooperated effectively in many areas, particularly in financial sector, as Shanghai tries to play the role of an international financial center.

He said Shanghai has accelerated its transformation into an international economic, financial, trade and shipping center while tackling new challenges arising from complicated world situation. Financial institutions need business innovation to serve the economy and to develop Internet finance.