Shanghai hopes to launch the long-awaited international board for foreign companies to list shares next year, although an exact timetable has yet to be fixed, Fang Xinghai, director-general of the city government's Office of Financial Services, said Wednesday.

"There's a lot of internal coordination between departments that has to happen," Fang told Dow Jones Newswires on the sidelines of a financial forum. He didn't elaborate.

The plan to launch the international board on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, part of China's broader agenda to make its currency more globalized by allowing foreign firms to issue shares denominated in the yuan, is also a key element of Shanghai's blueprint to turn itself into a global financial hub by 2020.

Foreign firms such as HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC) and NYSE Euronext (NYX) have expressed interest in being among the first batch of companies to list on the new board.

Fang told the forum earlier that the approval process for international board listings is expected to be speedier and more simplified than the typically long and cumbersome procedures for China's domestic listings.

-By Jean Yung, Dow Jones Newswires; 86-21-6120-1200; jean.yung@dowjones.com
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