Financial ties between Singapore and Shanghai are set to receive a boost in a more dynamic Asian financial landscape, said Ms Jacqueline Loh, deputy managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

Speaking at the second Singapore-Shanghai Financial Forum in Shanghai yesterday, Ms Loh said the gradual shifting of the world's economic centre of gravity to Asia in recent years presents "greater opportunities for collaboration" between the two cities.

"As international financial centres serving different but complementary parts of the Asian financial system, there is much scope for both sides to explore common interests for synergies," she added.

Singapore could, for instance, collaborate with the Shanghai authorities on China's newly announced free trade zones or pilot financial policies, said Ms Loh.

The forum, organised by the MAS and Shanghai Municipal Financial Services Office (Shanghai FSO), is a regular platform aimed at deepening cooperation between the two financial centres as well as facilitating collaboration between industry participants from Singapore and Shanghai.

Participants at the forum discussed new drivers of change in Asia's financial landscape and opportunities for Shanghai and Singapore to forge a stronger partnership, said a joint statement from the MAS and the Shanghai FSO.

Ms Kng Hwee Tin, executive director and chief executive of OCBC Wing Hang China, who was a panellist at one of the plenary sessions, said that as a Singapore bank with operations in China, it has been able to "leverage on its regional capabilities and play a facilitating role to help Chinese enterprises venture out".

OCBC Group in July collaborated with other Chinese financial institutions to help the Chongqing Nan'an Urban Construction and Development (Group) issue US$800 million (S$1.1 billion) of bonds here.