Regulators tell banks to ensure clean up of nonstandard WMPs meets year-end deadline
It’s been a long, hard slog for regulators to overhaul the WMP sector and resist banks’ efforts to water down and delay the new rules. These adjustments aren’t substantial…
AIA says it’s awaiting regulatory approval to start operating in more mainland cities
AIA has a long history in China and has notched up a series of firsts among foreign insurers, including being the first to get approval to set up a wholly foreign owned life insurance company incorporated in China…
Citic to establish pension fund joint venture
The dire state of China’s pension system finally appears to have spurred policymakers into action…
PBoC issues guiding opinions for development of corporate bond market
The aims laid out in the opinions are essentially a coalescence of the long-held, disparate objectives of China’s financial regulators. They also, as opinions often do, reiterate rules that already exist…
PBoC suspends issuer credit rating requirement for non-financial companies
Even though the PBoC has suspended the requirement, companies will still need to get their bonds rated if they want anyone to buy them…
Guangdong releases five-year plan for financial development, including proposals for GBA integration
Financial integration is one of the goals of the GBA and measures to support this policy have been slowly announced and introduced since the development plan for the region was issued in early 2019…
CBIRC issues draft measures governing reserves for non-life insurance business
China is severely underinsured, especially in non-life insurance areas such as natural catastrophes and public health crises, and the government has been pushing companies and state entities to increase their cover…
CBIRC inspection highlights problems with personal insurance products
The CBIRC periodically reports on the results of inspections and spot checks of the various insurance sub-sectors…
CBIRC cracks down on deceptive practices by internet insurance companies
Malfeasance and shady dealings have become an increasingly prominent problem in China’s growing online insurance industry…
Allianz approved to establish China’s first wholly foreign-owned insurance asset management company
Allianz China was the first wholly foreign-owned insurance holding company and this latest approval marks another milestone for the German insurer…
Bank of Wenzhou gets second bailout, this time from rural commercial banks in Zhejiang
Bank of Wenzhou is the latest in a string of small regional lenders that are being recapitalized as part of a cleanup of the banking sector…
CBIRC official outlines concerns about health of joint-stock banks
Financial de-risking and the overall health of the financial system have been key concerns for Chinese regulators for several years, as we have highlighted regularly in our analysis…
Citigroup subsidiary wins final approval to launch onshore fund custody services
China is sticking to its promises of opening up its financial sector to foreign companies – an important signal to reassure international investors that China is still open for business and prepared to abide by the agreements it has made…
CBIRC issues new rules on the regulatory responsibilities of its dispatched offices
There is little new in these rules, rather they are part of broader efforts by Chinese regulators to clarify and standardize regulatory procedures and responsibilities to increase efficiency and reduce ambiguity in the financial sector’s legal framework…
Party’s economic affairs commission calls for better supervision of financial system
The high priority that continues to be given to controlling and defusing financial risks indicates that the Party still doesn’t see the problem, which it identified in 2017 as one of its three critical battles, as being anywhere near resolved…
CBIRC outlines second-half priorities at mid-year work meeting
There’s little new in the CBIRC’s intentions in the readout of this meeting, but it’s still useful to know the commission’s priorities don’t appear to have changed from what was set out at the beginning of the year…
CSRC clears Fidelity to open mainland mutual fund business
The approvals for foreign financial institutions (FFIs) to set up wholly owned operations in China keep on coming. The key question is whether they can successfully go it alone without a local partner…
MoF working on more support to meet carbon goals, researchers propose carbon tax
The MoF first put forward a plan to tax greenhouse gas emissions in 2010 and did so again in 2013. But its proposals have failed to gain traction partly due to opposition from some policymakers concerned that a tax could jeopardize economic growth…
PBoC offers more details on tools to support carbon emission reduction
It would be tempting to focus on the fact that the PBoC’s Q2 monetary policy implementation report largely confirms media reports that the carbon emission reduction tool would take the form of a re-lending tool…
JP Morgan to become first wholly foreign-owned securities brokerage in China
JPMorgan may be the first, but it won’t be the last foreign firm to take full control of its onshore securities business…