Shanghai Stock Exchange Chairman Gui Minjie told reporters that regulators have already approved the bourse's application to put up an international trading platform in the Shanghai free trade zone, Reuters reported.

Speaking at the sidelines of a parliament session held in Beijing, Gui said there has been substantial progress in the past few years when it comes to permitting China-based companies to list in markets abroad. However, foreign firms are still barred from trading on Chinese stock exchange platforms.

With this development, more overseas investors would get the chance to leverage on the fourth biggest stock market in the world in terms of capitalization. It would also enable overseas-based firms to issue shares in China, the second biggest economy in the world, the report said.

Gui added that they were already putting together a team tasked with looking at strategies to be able to build up the free trade zone's international trading platform. The Shanghai opened for business late in September last year to help spur the progress of the financial services sector in China, the report said.

In a February 21, 2014 report, Bloomberg said that the People's Bank of China has permitted firms operating in the free trade zone to borrow yuan abroad as part of the government's initiatives to internationalize its currency. In a statement posted on its website, PBOC's Shanghai branch said the funds borrowed must only be utilized for activities done in the zone or abroad. There are also limits on the loan amount depending on a firm's registered capital and the regulations set forth by the government.

In November, the leadership of the ruling Communist Party promised to hasten the convertibility of the currency. The Bloomberg report quoted HSBC Holdings Plc's China unit CEO Helen Wong as saying, "China continues to rise as a world economic powerhouse, and the RMB is fast developing into a global currency for trade and investment."