PBoC convenes Q1 monetary policy meeting
The problem is, however, simply telling businesses, consumers, and investors to “have confidence” might work in the very short term, but the realities of China’s economic challenges will soon come home to roost – especially if officials don’t up their policy support game…
MoF and CSRC issue notice to improve internal controls over financial reporting of listed companies
The government is working hard to clean up China’s capital markets and this notice is part of efforts to restore investor confidence in companies listed on China’s stock markets. Regulators are taking aim not just at the companies, but also at their advisers and intermediaries such as ratings agencies, underwriters and auditors, who have often been complicit in fraudulent activities…
PBoC hands over RMB 1 trillion to the MoF to bolster fiscal income
The state sector has been saving up for a rainy day and now it’s raining. China’s economy faces multiple headwinds in 2022, such as rising unemployment and new waves of regional COVID-19 outbreaks…
CSRC intends to expand pilot program for publicly traded REITs
Regulators have so far failed to give the go-ahead to REITs backed by residential and commercial real estate out of concern they could fuel the property price bubble the government has worked so hard to stamp out…
Government Work Report, NDRC Report highlight plans for continued financial opening
The policy documents that emerged from the Two Sessions reiterate China’s steady and measured commitment to further economic and financial opening. As always, foreign investment into strategic industries and into relatively poorer parts of the country will receive an especially warm welcome as China tries to bolster its domestic competitiveness and address inequality…
Guangdong government outlines key tasks for GBA in 2022
Once again, policymakers have left us with an ambitious outline detailing GBA development but with relatively few details on implementation…
China Banking Association issues proposal to improve financial literacy among consumers
In recent years, much of the work carried out by financial regulators has involved stamping out deceptive practices among financial institutions which prey on the relatively low level of financial literacy among Chinese consumers…
March foreign financial institution approvals and specific financial opening developments
On February 21, Schroders announced that it had received permission from Chinese regulators to set up a majority-owned wealth management joint venture with state-owned Bank of Communications.
Multiple Chinese companies look to raise cash in Switzerland
As the US – by far the world’s largest equity market – becomes less friendly to mainland companies, Chinese firms will get creative on how they raise cash in global markets. There will be an increase in private funding as well as upticks in capital raising in peripheral global markets, like those in Europe and Singapore…
CBIRC issues statement warning consumers on how they use credit
This issue is likely to become more important in coming years. The elderly are often the most vulnerable to these sort of scams, and China’s rapidly aging population…
China’s stock exchanges issue further fee reductions
Given that the Shenzhen exchange has extended its fee cuts to the whole country – from originally just Tianjin, Henan, and Shaanxi – there’s a good chance both the Shanghai and Beijing exchanges will follow suit at some point this year…
FSDC meeting stems market turmoil, leaders promise policy consistency
The FSDC is doing what it can to stop the stock market slide, and thus far its actions have been largely successful. However, there is a substantial difference between short-term rhetoric aimed at stabilizing markets and the longer-term reforms necessary to bring these pledges to fruition…
CBIRC to tell pension insurance firms to clean up risky, short maturity products
The regulation essentially asks for pension insurers to return to their roots: providing vanilla retirement savings products. For now, regulators’ objection to personal pension guarantee management products seems to mainly be about their short maturity rather than how they’re invested…
CBIRC releases implementation rules covering reserves of non-life insurers
As China’s insurance sector continues to grow, developing a robust framework for ensuring companies have sufficient reserves will be crucial to overall financial stability. An insurer’s failure to meet payouts on the policies it has underwritten could have severe knock-on effects throughout the financial sector and could damage consumer confidence in insurance more broadly…
China Everbright appoints new chairman
On March 4, financial media reported that Wang Jiang, president of China Construction Bank Corp. (CCB), had been tapped to serve as chairman of China Everbright Group Ltd…
CBIRC issues measures on agricultural insurance underwriting and claims settlement
China’s leadership is obsessed with food security as well as with rural revitalization and increasing farmers’ incomes. Developing robust agricultural insurance is an obvious (and World Trade Organization compliant) way to help farmers, insulating them from both bad harvests and market volatility…
NPC work reports show derisking and financial sector development remain priorities
The twin goals of derisking and continued financial sector development are interconnected. Cracking down on shadow finance and reducing local governments’ reliance on debt-fueled growth have been major policy pillars of Xi Jinping’s second five-year term (2017-2022)…
CBIRC chairman highlights accomplishments, outlines priorities for China’s financial sector
Faced with slowing economic growth and sluggish consumption, the Party has set stimulating investment and consumption as key policy goals for this year to support economic growth. Ministries, regulators and other government agencies are tasked with ensuring they align their work with those objectives which were detailed in the Government Work Report presented by Premier Li Keqiang to the National People’s Congress earlier in March…
CBIRC expands private pension pilot programs
Faced with a looming shortfall in the state pension system, Chinese policymakers have, over the past few years, been making a concerted drive to develop the private pension market to encourage people to save for their old age. The expansion of these pilot programs has taken place within a few months of their launch…
Macau adopts urban master plan for 2020-2040
Like most high-level GBA policy plans, Macau’s urban work plan is heavy on aspirations and light on specifics. It will remain for lower-level government bureaus to determine how exactly it will be implemented…