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☆ Ant gets approval to expand its consumer finance business
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING — Ant Group's consumer finance unit has received approval to more than double its registered capital, a sign of progress in resolving regulators' concerns. Since the abrupt suspension of its massive IPO in late 2020, Ant has been working with Chinese regulators to restructure its business. Ant launched its consumer finance company in 2021 as part of the restructuring. On Friday, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said it approved Ant's request to increase the amount of registered capital for the consumer unit, to 18.5 billion yuan from 8 billion yuan. Ant will still hold a 50% stake in the consumer finance company, according to the announcement.

☆ China securities regulator to check brokers' financing needs after Huatai share plan
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SHANGHAI, Jan 3 (Reuters) - China's securities regulator said it would fully check securities firms' financing needs after Huatai Securities Co Ltd (601688.SS), proposed a share placement plan that would be one of the biggest in China's brokerage industry. The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) in a statement on Tuesday said it will fully pay attention to the necessity for, and rationality of, securities firms' financing, as part of its vetting process. The comments come as Huatai Securities, one of China's biggest brokerages, said on Friday it plans to raise 28 billion yuan ($4.07 billion) in A-share and H-share rights issue. Listed brokers should reasonably determine the financing plan and method, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of all types of investors, especially small and mid-sized investors, the regulator said. Huatai Securities did not reply to a phone call and an email seeking comment.

☆ China Securities Regulator Cracks Down on Online Brokerages Futu and Up Fintech
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Weilun Soon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Futu has been listed in the U.S. since 2019. SINGAPORE—China’s securities regulator said two Nasdaq-listed online brokers have allowed customers on the mainland to make cross-border trades, stoking concerns that Chinese authorities aren’t finished with their crackdowns on private-sector companies. The American depositary receipts of Up Fintech Holding Ltd., which is also known as Tiger Brokers, and Futu Holdings Ltd. tumbled more than 25% in U.S. premarket trading after the China Securities Regulatory Commission put out a statement Friday that named both companies.

☆ China regulator asks Futu and UP Fintech to stop soliciting mainland clients
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Reuters Staff | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Reuters reported earlier that Chinese officials were planning to ban online brokerages such as Futu Holdings Ltd and UP Fintech Holding Ltd from offering offshore trading services to mainland clients. The announcement also came a day after Futu, backed by Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings, delayed its listing plan in Hong Kong. The company said it was “clarifying certain matters concerning the Group with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange”, in a filing to the Hong Kong bourse on Thursday night. Futu and UP Fintech Hong Kong have conducted cross-border securities businesses involving domestic investors without regulatory consent, contravening Chinese laws, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said in a statement. The CSRC will ask the brokerages to take corrective measures, such as to stop soliciting new business from mainland investors, the watchdog said.

☆ China Regulator Says Futu, Up Fintech Violated Laws
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Weilun Soon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SINGAPORE—China’s securities regulator said two Nasdaq-listed online brokers violated its domestic laws by allowing customers on the mainland to make cross-border trades, stoking concerns that Chinese authorities aren’t finished with their crackdowns on private-sector companies. The American depositary receipts of Up Fintech Holding Ltd., which is also known as Tiger Brokers, and Futu Holdings Ltd. fell around 20% in Friday morning New York trading after the China Securities Regulatory Commission put out a statement that mentioned both companies.

☆ China drafts rules for trust firms to curb shadow banking
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Reuters Staff | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

FILE PHOTO: A man rides an electric bike past the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) building in Beijing, China February 14, 2019. REUTERS/StringerBEIJING (Reuters) -China’s banking and insurance regulator issued draft rules on Friday to step up oversight of the $3 trillion trust industry, and reduce financial risks in the shadow banking sector. The once-freewheeling trust industry, at the heart of a vast shadow banking sector, for years helped channel funds into companies that struggle to obtain bank credit via opaque structures. Such business has been targeted in Beijing’s crackdown on shadow banking as the opaque product structure made it hard for regulators to track risks. In October, some trust companies received notices from regulators to report their operations based on the proposed new classification rules, the 21st Century Business Herald reported.

☆ U.S. regulators to probe power outages during historic winter storm
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 28 (Reuters) - An inquiry will be opened into the power outages caused by extreme weather during historic winter storm Elliott, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and other North American regulatory authorities said on Wednesday. FERC will probe operations of the bulk power system to identify performance issues and recommend solutions alongside the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and its six regional entities which encompass nearly 400 million customers, mainly in the U.S. and Canada. "This storm underscores the increasing frequency of significant extreme weather events and underscores the need for the electric sector to change its planning scenarios and preparations for extreme events,” said NERC CEO and President Jim Robb. And this was in the early weeks of a projected 'mild' winter," Robb said. Reporting by Deep Vakil in Bengaluru; Editing by David GregorioOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Here's why the U.S. electric grid isn't running on 100% renewable energy yet
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +15 min

Intermittency and transmissionOne of the biggest barriers to a 100% renewable grid is the intermittency of many renewable power sources. Wind resources in the United States, according to the the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy. Solar resources in the United States, according to the the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy.

☆ Indian power regulator retains price cap at electricity exchanges
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Companies Indian Energy Exchange Ltd FollowNEW DELHI, Dec 28 (Reuters) - India's power regulator on Wednesday retained a price cap of 12 rupees ($0.1450) per unit on electricity traded on its spot power exchanges ahead of expected record energy demand in the coming summer months. The CERC had lowered the price ceiling on power exchanges in April, from 20 rupees a unit, in light of desperate buying by state electricity companies to meet surging summer demand. The Indian Energy Exchange (IIAN.NS) and unlisted PXIL are the two main power exchanges in India. Industry sources expect the cap to remain in place indefinitely because there will be a separate market segment without a price cap. That new segment on the country's power markets would include costlier electricity from imported gas and coal-based power stations.

☆ China to step up financial support to COVID-hit catering, tourism sectors
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING, Dec 27 (Reuters) - China will step up financial support to small and private businesses in the catering and tourism sectors that were hit hard by the COVID-19 epidemic, the country's banking and insurance regulator said in a statement on Tuesday. Contact-intensive services sector suffered the most amid China's anti-virus curbs which shut many restaurants down and restricted tourists' travels. "The recovery and expansion of consumption will be a priority," China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) said in the statement. China will also step up financial support for private investment and private enterprises, the regulator added. Amid protracted weakness in the property sector, the CBIRC pledged to satisfy reasonable financing needs and to improve leading developers' balance sheets.

☆ Thai power price hike to hurt business, competitiveness - business group
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BANGKOK, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Thailand's decision to hike electricity prices by 20% in early 2023 will push up inflation and undermine the country's competitiveness as the economy recovers gradually from the pandemic, a leading joint business group said on Friday. The business group urged the government to delay the price hike as manufacturers would be forced to increase the price of goods, said the group, which includes representatives from industry, banking and commerce. Surong Bulakul, vice chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said higher power prices could increase inflation to 3.5% next year, from 3% currently forecast, with interest rates on the rise. On Monday, the central bank said it would continue to raise rates for a while to help the economy and curb inflation. ($1 = 34.70 baht)Reporting by Orathai Sriring, Kitiphong Thaichareon Editing by Kanupriya KapoorOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Companies BlackRock Inc FollowHONG KONG/SHANGHAI, Dec 21 (Reuters) - China plans to tighten rules to regulate environmentally friendly, or so-called green funds, as part of its efforts to rein in 'greenwashing' in the world's second-largest climate fund market, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. At present, China's green funds only operate within broad investment guidelines that came into effect in 2018 and do not have a mandatory labelling regime. China overtook the United States last year to become the second largest climate fund market globally after the European market, according to Morningstar, which compiles global ESG fund data. In the first nine months of this year, 43 climate-themed funds debuted in China, a 30% rise in total number of products from end-2020. AMAC's draft rules borrow from the 2021 version of China's green bond catalogue, a quasi scheme of classification, to define green assets.

☆ China's COVID surge hits Beijing trading floors, Shanghai finance hub
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SHANGHAI, Dec 19 (Reuters) - COVID-19 is sweeping through trading floors in Beijing and spreading fast in the financial hub of Shanghai, with illness and absence thinning already light trade and forcing regulators to cancel a weekly meeting vetting public share sales. Internal surveys by several big asset managers and banks suggest more than half of their employees in Beijing, the epicentre of the virus surge, have tested positive. Stock trading volume also eased last week. DISRUPTIONThe pandemic also has an impact on initial public offerings (IPOs), with the China Securities Regulatory Commission calling off a weekly meeting vetting them last week. To be sure, years of strict COVID rules have left a lot of businesses well placed to handle disruption.

☆ China's re-opening to lift Asia equity capital market volumes from 3-year lows
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Scott Murdoch | Thomson Reuters | Scott Murdoch Has Been A Journalist For More Than Two Decades Working For Thomson Reuters | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

SYDNEY, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Asian equity capital markets activity, languishing at three-year lows now, is set to get a much needed boost in 2023 from China's expected re-opening to the rest of the world after a spate of COVID-19 lockdowns, dealmakers said. "As China's re-opening happens, market activity will come in stages," said Edward Byun, Goldman Sachs' co-head of equity capital markets in Asia ex-Japan, adding that secondary market trading and follow-on capital raisings would benefit first. IPOs in Asia Pacific, including Japan, fell by 43.3% this year in value terms, while total equity capital market deals plunged 52%, according to Refinitiv data. New share sales in Hong Kong plunged 74% to $7.4 billion this year from $28.17 billion in 2021, Refinitiv data showed. In India, IPOs were down nearly 60% to $7.13 billion from $17.05 billion, the Refinitiv data showed.

☆ Stock delisting risks averted as US gains access to audit papers of Chinese tech companies
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The announcement marks a major breakthrough in a yearslong standoff over how Chinese companies listed on Wall Street should be regulated. There are more than 260 Chinese companies listed on US stock exchanges, with a combined market capitalization of more than $770 billion, according to recent calculations posted by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. The United States had increased pressure by passing a law in December 2020 requiring Chinese companies listed in the US to open their books to audit watchdogs. In Friday’s statement, the PCAOB said it had inspected the audits of eight Chinese companies completed by KPMG Huazhen LLP in China and PricewaterhouseCoopers in Hong Kong. She added that the watchdog is continuing to demand complete access in mainland China and Hong Kong moving forward.

☆ California and the Midwest face 'high risk' of electricity shortages in next five years
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Projected energy shortfalls have been projected in that region since 2018, Olson said. The Southwest could also suffer when demand is high and wind energy generation is low in the region. For its annual long-term electricity security assessment, NERC looks at the coming decade, but energy and capacity risk assessment goes out for the coming five years, from 2023 to 2027. There are too many moving parts and uncertainties for a risk assessment past the next five years to be worthwhile, according to NERC. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission certified NERC to measure and enforce safety standards for the energy grid in the United States in 2006.

☆ China keen on regulatory cooperation in audit of U.S.-listed Chinese firms
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BEIJING, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The China Securities Regulatory Commission is looking forward to working with U.S. regulators to continue promoting future annual audit and supervision on companies listed in the U.S., it said on Friday. "We have always advocated solving regulatory issues of cross-border listing audit through regulatory cooperation mechanisms," the commission said in a statement. The U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board on Thursday said it has determined that it has full access to inspect and investigate firms in China for the first time in history. read moreReporting by Beijing newsroom; Writing by Liz Lee; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

HONG KONG/BEIJING, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Chinese regulators and state-owned banks are taking steps to split staff at their workplaces in Beijing, sources told Reuters, as businesses brace for a possible spike in COVID cases after China relaxed virus restrictions in a major policy shift. Other staff are required to work from home, they added. Among China's big four state-owned banks, Bank of China (BOC) (601988.SS) has released a notice to staff that it would split its Beijing workforce into three groups, working in the office on alternate weeks, said a person with direct knowledge. But the bank has yet to decide when to start such rotations, the person added. Other large state banks have also made similar arrangements - splitting up staff into rotating shifts while maintaining a maximum of 10%-20% of staff occupancy in their headquarters in Beijing, said two other people with knowledge of the matter.

The recent attack on two North Carolina substations that cut power to thousands of people has raised concerns about security standards for the country’s electric grid and its numerous power stations, which have faced greater threats in recent years. Nearly 600 electric emergency incidents and disturbances were caused by suspected and confirmed physical attacks and vandalism on the electric grid in those nine years, the reports show. The incidents, which are self-reported by power companies to the federal government, provide little to no detail about what occurred. Paths forward for a new standardThose who want a new security standard said there remain significant bureaucratic headwinds against such a proposal. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation, a nonprofit originally created by the electricity industry, said it created security requirements based on risk, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

Funds flowing from banks will allow developers to repay offshore loans and dollar bonds, helping to repair global investors' bruised confidence, two of the sources said. Each of the four banks, Bank of China (601988.SS), China Construction Bank (601939.SS), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398.SS) and Agricultural Bank of China (601288.SS), will pick several developers to fund, the three sources said. The third source said that, while the big four banks preferred fresh lending to go to state-backed developers, they would have to include some private firms, which have a greater need for offshore loans. Chinese banks make offshore loans secured against domestic assets to companies that need foreign funds, but regulatory tightening in the last couple of years to rein in debt-fuelled empire-building by corporates hampered that kind of lending. China's central bank will also offer cheap loans to financial firms to buy bonds issued by property developers, separate sources have told Reuters.

HONG KONG/SHANGHAI/BEIJING, Dec 2 (Reuters) - China has ordered its top four state-owned banks to issue offshore loans to help developers repay overseas debt, three people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, rolling out its latest support measure for the cash-starved property sector. The regulators have given 'window guidance', or verbal orders that leave no paper trail, to the banks, setting a date of Dec. 10 by which to make the loans secured against domestic assets, two of the sources said. Funds received after the latest step will allow developers to repay offshore loans and dollar bonds in a bid to repair global investors' bruised confidence in the sector, two of the sources said. Each of the four banks, Bank of China (601988.SS), China Construction Bank (601939.SS), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398.SS) and Agricultural Bank of China (601288.SS), will pick several developers to fund, the three sources said. The People's Bank of China, the central bank, and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

HONG KONG, Nov 30 (Reuters Breakingviews) - President Xi Jinping is wrapping up his massive property stress test, but it looks like few have passed. It was precisely what the now near-collapsed China Evergrande (3333.HK) had asked for back in 2020, before regulators dashed its hopes of listing in the Chinese mainland. Among them is Country Garden (2007.HK), whose U.S. dollar bond that matures in January has rebounded 43% to 96 cents on the dollar this month. In comparison, an Evergrande bond due in January still trades at 5.5 cents. These property bailouts are set to leave most in the sector out in the cold.

☆ China property sector surges on fundraising support, but COVID protests cloud outlook
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Xie Yu | Jason Xue | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The move is the latest regulatory easing as Beijing steps up support for the property business, a sector that accounts for a quarter of the Chinese economy. Yuan-denominated bonds issued by Chinese developers CIFI Group, Guangzhou Times Holdings, Country Garden rocketed between 20% and 50% each on Tuesday. “Most of the funding channels the property developers need are covered now,” said Gary Ng, senior economist at Natixis. “It is now up to whether the market, or basically the state players will actually support the sector,” he said. If funds could be raised from state-backed investors, there will be meaningful consolidation in the property sector, Ng said.

☆ China property shares surge on opening up of equity financing option
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Reuters Staff | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Aly SongHONG KONG (Reuters) - Shares of Chinese property companies soared on Tuesday after the country’s securities regulator lifted a ban on equity refinancing for listed property firms, in the latest support measure for the embattled real estate sector. The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said late on Monday it would broaden equity financing channels, including private share placements for China and Hong Kong-listed Chinese developers, lifting a years-long ban. The latest regulatory measure comes Beijing steps up support for the property sector, a pillar accounting for a quarter of the world’s second-biggest economy. Beijing suspended refinancing by listed property firms in August 2009 as part of its attempts to control surging home prices. Regulators briefly lifted the suspension by granting approval to refinancing requests by a selection of property firms starting from 2013, but imposed back restrictions in 2016 to curb housing prices.

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