31 Mar 2020

Bank of Jinzhou improves performance, but bad debts go up

Bank of Jinzhou, like many other regional lenders, is paying the price of years of overly rapid expansion, poor lending decisions, and weak oversight. The slowing economy has exposed these …


31 Mar 2020

Oaktree awarded outbound investment quota by Beijing financial regulators

China’s policies to open its financial markets and give foreign institutions more access are mostly aimed at encouraging capital inflows. However, a few channels are…


31 Mar 2020

Fresh personnel reshuffle at CBIRC

Personnel reshuffles of this type allow officials who have been in a given position or department for an extended period of time to gain a broader understanding of …


27 Mar 2020

PBoC and CBIRC release draft of measures to assess rural financing

Xi Jinping’s rural revitalization strategy plays a key role in the Party’s development goals that include modernizing the economy, narrowing urban-rural inequality, raising living standards, and …


27 Mar 2020

CBIRC tightens licensing oversight of non-bank financial institutions

NBFIs play a key role in providing financing for sectors that are often underserved by traditional banks or are restricted from taking out bank loans, such as real estate. However, lax regulation has led …


27 Mar 2020

Two US banks to take control of their securities JVs

The approvals mark the latest in a string of financial opening measures, which we have documented in past monitors. Importantly, these moves, as well as the…


25 Mar 2020

CBIRC issues new rules for insurers’ asset management products

China’s central bank and other financial regulators published the long-awaited final draft of a new regulatory framework for the asset management industry in April 2018. The aim was to …


24 Mar 2020

ZhongAn narrowed losses in 2019

ZhongAn has benefited from first-mover advantage as China’s first online-only insurer and from its links with two successful internet financial services groups. But with the opening of China’s …


24 Mar 2020

Hong Kong’s first online-only bank commences operation

The formal launch of ZA Bank is well timed, as the closure of brick-and-mortar outlets of many of the city’s major banks amid the COVID-19 epidemic should encourage take-up of online banking. But ZA Bank will not …


24 Mar 2020

China slowly goes back to work, but challenges remain

The key issue for all businesses now is the recovery in demand. Over the past four weeks, government efforts have been focused on normalizing production and reducing supply disruptions. The goal has now shifted to …


23 Mar 2020

PSBC completes first renminbi interest rate options trades on China’s interbank market

China has taken a cautious approach to developing its derivatives markets in recent years after experimentation over the past two decades led to a string of financial scandals. But the ongoing overhaul of …


22 Mar 2020

Regulators to set up new holding company for AMCs

As the majority shareholder of each of the four national AMCs, the Ministry of Finance has traditionally taken a fairly hands-off approach to overseeing them. However, the corruption scandal that engulfed …


20 Mar 2020

PBoC vice governor appointed chairman of CITIC Group

This is the first time in the history of CITIC Group that an outsider has been appointed chairman. This probably reflects dissatisfaction among …


20 Mar 2020

J.P. Morgan’s majority-owned securities company opens for business

Foreign financial companies have finally got one of their big wishes in China – the ability to take majority stakes in joint ventures and operate wholly owned subsidiaries. JPMorgan Chase is one of several …


20 Mar 2020

Regulators set up incentive system for local government financial compliance

Financial de-risking and the overall health of the financial system has become a key concern of Chinese regulators in recent years, as we have highlighted regularly in our monitors. However, compelling local governments to fully implement the …


19 Mar 2020

SAFE expands pilot program for high-tech MSMEs’ cross-border financing

The expansion of the pilot program is part of a broader drive by policymakers to support the growth of small, innovative companies, many of whom are …


17 Mar 2020

Yu Fachang assumes Party committee membership at Everbright

While the exact scope of Yu’s portfolio remains unclear, there is speculation that he will play a role in overseeing …


16 Mar 2020

China fintech “regulatory sandbox” participants announced

There are two major distinctions between China’s fintech sandbox and similar initiatives in other countries. First, the PBoC will …


15 Mar 2020

CSRC confirms scrapping of foreign ownership limits on securities companies

Although hailed by the Trump administration as an important concession on the part of Chinese negotiators, the opening of China’s capital markets to foreign participation has been well underway for some time as the …


15 Mar 2020

March wrap-up: High-level policy developments

Consumption is now a major driver of China’s economy and if GDP growth is to fully recover, getting consumption – both government and household spending – back to pre-COVID-19 levels will be crucial. The measures taken so far…


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