Foreign investors are eager to invest in Shanghai's tertiary industry, with the sector accounting for some 90 percent of the city's total actual foreign investment last year.

Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce claims that the tertiary industry absorbed $16.4 billion in actual foreign investment in 2014, up 20.8 percent from the previous year.

The monthly figure stood at $1 billion this January, 87.3 percent of the total.

Financial services grew fastest last year, with actual foreign investment up 38.9 percent from 2013. The property sector received $8.3 billion in 2014, up 117 percent.

According to the commission, the added value of the city's tertiary industry represented 64.8 percent of the city's GDP in 2014, compared to 63.2 percent in 2013.

The Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ) has been an important driving force. Last year, the FTZ approved 2,015 foreign-funded projects, 20 percent in the service sector.