The number of companies registered in the Qianhai special economic zone (SEZ) rose 68% to 124,000 last year. Almost half of them are financial firms, a trend that is likely to continue as Beijing promotes the zone as a financial services hub. Brokers and accountants urged Qianhai to further relax its rules to allow smaller players to operate. Witman Hung, Principal Liaison Officer for the Hong Kong office of the Qianhai Authority, said 53,088 companies were newly registered at the economic zone next to Shenzhen. The gross economic product of the area rose 38% year-on-year to CNY141 billion, while the total tax revenue from the companies operating there climbed 55% to CNY27 billion. 39% of the firms in Qianhai are from Hong Kong, with the rest from the mainland and overseas. By sector, 47% of the companies are financial firms, 28% are in technology and professional services, 16% are modern logistic and 11% are in information services. Big players such as Ping An Insurance and Tencent are planning to move in, while HSBC and Hang Seng Bank have branches there. But Christopher Cheung, Hong Kong lawmaker for the financial services sector, criticized Qianhai for only focusing on big players. Qianhai plans to build a new 150,000 square meter Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Fund Town for 100 large fund companies to operate. Construction is scheduled to finish in October this year, the South China Morning Post reports.