CBIRC tells insurers to reduce rate of return on new products
Falling interest rates have raised regulators’ concerns that insurance companies could be exposed to losses from negative interest rate spreads. There’s also concern that competition for new business may drive some insurers to offer policyholders higher returns than they can earn on their investments…
CSRC announces delisting of two tech firms for IPO fraud
If Beijing wants households to put more of their savings into equity markets, building trust in those markets is key. With the registration-based IPO system now rolled out to all mainland boards, regulators want …
Industry body reportedly calls on banks to cut deposit rates
The elevated savings rate is a symptom of households’ low confidence about the future and expectations that capital or property markets will not provide better returns. A modest decline in deposit rates, however, is unlikely to …
PBoC offers reassurance about divergence in M1 and M2 growth
The M1-M2 divergence signals that some of the money being created isn’t being used. Banks are under pressure to lend, but there aren’t enough takers, so they may be dishing out loans to accommodating state-owned enterprises who then just sit on the money. The PBoC may …
CSRC starts taking over supervision of enterprise bonds from NDRC
This change makes total sense and it’s been a long time coming. It will help reduce risk by eliminating the potential for competition between regulators keen to expand the part of the bond market under their purview. The next major step is to …
CBIRC official highlights efforts to improve risk management at P&C insurers
As with many facets of China’s financial system, regulators are focused on ensuring that property insurers are run properly, have adequate financial strength, and …
CSRC issues draft revisions to rules on regulation of securities companies
These revisions are part of a larger push within the financial regulatory apparatus to modernize outdated legal frameworks and rationalize and harmonize disparate pieces of regulation. In this and other regulatory updates and revisions there is a clear emphasis on building out better compliance capacity and corporate governance structures…
State Council releases opinions aimed at reforming listed company board director system
Top leadership has repeatedly emphasized their desire to see mainland capital markets transformed into effective channels for funding science and tech innovation. To get there…
Yi Gang reiterates PBoC’s aim to loosen control of RMB exchange rate
Given the urgency with which the central bank is pursuing both RMB internationalization and interest rate reform, we expect the managed float will be abandoned and replaced by…
PBoC convenes Q1 monetary policy meeting
Doing more to channel financing to the private sector could go a long way toward stimulating growth – and top leadership, notably Premier Li Qiang, has…
First batch of main board registration-based IPO companies begin trading
Letting the market shoulder the IPO information disclosure and pricing burden will make China’s capital markets more efficient, but the move may not be quite as impactful or free market as it sounds…
NDRC releases catalogue of encouraged industries for Hengqin Cooperation Zone
This is premium content. Subscribe for access, or login below. Username or Email Password Remember me Lost your password?
CBIRC announces trial program to convert life insurance policies into long-term care benefit plans
China’s aging population is increasingly putting strain not only on the country’s creaking pension system, but also on the generation of children born during China’s One-Child Policy era. The pressure on young adults to either care for their aging parents on their own or to find alternative solutions to ensure that they receive adequate care risks becoming both an economic liability and a thorny social problem…
Yi Gang highlights PBoC’s monetary and financial policy successes, lays out goals
Yi’s message is straightforward enough: The PBoC is doing a solid job stewarding the economy, and there is little reason for any major course change…
CSRC calls for comment on proposed derivatives trading supervision rules
As the CSRC points out, these measures are largely aimed at getting China’s over-the-counter derivatives market aligned with international standards, as agreed upon by G20 leaders in 2009. Just as was the case with the Futures and Derivatives Law, this piece of complementary regulation serves to ensure the development of a more sophisticated, robust, and secure Chinese derivatives market…
CSRC issues draft of proposed rules to supervise futures firms
These measures, like the Measures for the Supervision of Derivatives Transactions, are complementary regulations that provide more detailed rules to implement the Futures and Derivatives Law, a key piece of legislation to build a more sophisticated capital markets system that aligns with international standards…
CBIRC summons insurers over guaranteed returns
The problem facing China’s insurers is the opposite of the one recently confronted by Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). As US interest rates rose, the value of SVB’s stock of treasury holdings declined, making it increasingly difficult for the lender to manage its liquidity needs…
CBIRC issues final rules on classification of trust companies’ trust business
These regulations are part of the CBIRC’s multi-year efforts to clean up the trust sector, which used to be at the heart of China’s shadow banking system. Following the implementation of new asset management rules in 2018, trust companies’ shadow banking activities – such as capital pooling and illicit channeling – were put under stricter scrutiny and reduced significantly in size…
Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges release guidelines encouraging insurance asset management firms to engage in ABS, REITs businesses
These Guidelines have two major objectives. First, to support the government’s broader efforts to develop the market for infrastructure REITs and guide more private capital into infrastructure investment…
CBIRC abruptly suspends bond quote data feeds
The abruptness and opacity of the move won’t help engender trust in China’s financial regulatory apparatus – something that’s a key goal for policymakers – nor is it an encouraging sign for foreign financial firms operating on the mainland, either…