SHANGHAI, Jun. 26 – The local government is set to launch a program that will give foreign finance specialists incentives to work in Shanghai including lowered taxes, reports Shanghai Daily.

The financial talent award is just one of the government’s policies aimed at turning Shanghai into an international financial and shipping hub by 2020

“We can’t change the standard of the individual income tax on foreigners working in Shanghai, that is a national issue. But we do hope to attract more financial talents into Shanghai by lowering the tax burden on them,” Fang Xinghai, director of the Shanghai Financial Services Office, said during the First European Union Shanghai International Financial Forum.

He told Shanghai Daily that the award will be available for senior foreign executives employed at Shanghai-registered financial firms. More details of the award will be released later on.

For foreign specialists, working in the mainland can be a costlier option because it can  of income taxes that can go as high as 45 percent compared to other places like Hong Kong and Singapore.

Shanghai also has plans to have two new special financial courts in Huangpu and Pudong to make it easier to settle financial cases.