Guangdong Governor Huang Huahua has urged Guangzhou and Shenzhen to speed up their transition into regional financial centers.

The twin Guangdong cities must take bold steps to attract more overseas banks and other financial institutions and further reform their financial sectors in the coming years, Huang said.

"Guangzhou and Shenzhen need to seek foreign support and launch more regional and global cooperation in developing their finance industries," Huang said.

Huang made his remarks at a work conference on Guangdong's financial industrial development in Guangzhou on Wednesday.

Huang expects the two financial centers to play a leading role in the province's development of the finance industry in the years ahead.

Guangzhou and Shenzhen are also slated to further expand financial cooperation with neighbors Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions (SAR), which are well developed in financial and information industries.

As pilot cities of the country's reform and opening drive, Guangzhou and Shenzhen both have the advanced infrastructure needed to become major financial industry hubs.

Many offshore companies have set up production facilities in the two cities.

Overseas banks, insurance companies and other financial groups have also established branches, representative offices and outlets in the cities.

HSBC, Citibank, Bank of America, Hang Seng Bank, Bank of East Asia and AIA Insurance Co Ltd all have offices in Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

Guangdong has also mapped out an ambitious plan for its financial industrial development, according to Huang.

By the end of the 11th-Five-Year Plan (2006-10), Guangdong's financial industry will account for 5 percent of the province's gross domestic product (GDP) and 11 percent of the province's third industrial output value.

Meanwhile the province's financial institutions will record profits of over 100 billion yuan by 2010 and Guangdong's public companies will be worth more than 2,000 billion yuan.