Tag: PBOC

Some Chinese banks told to issue more loans for property projects

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BEIJING, – Some Chinese banks have been told by financial regulators to issue more loans to property firms for project development, two banking sources with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters on Monday, in efforts to marginally ease liquidity strains across the industry.

Chinese authorities have yet to publicly give any signal that they will relax the “three red lines” – financial requirements introduced by the central bank last year that developers must meet to get new bank loans.

But lenders have recently adjusted their lending practices to reflect the latest central bank guidance of “meeting the normal financing needs” of the sector.

The marginal relaxation of loan policies to developers will still stick to the major principle that “homes are for living in, not for speculation,” said the sources, one from a city commercial bank and the other from a big bank, who received the guidance from regulators.

Financial regulators have told the banks to specifically accelerate approval of loans to develop projects, and to ensure that outstanding loans to project development show positive growth in their loan books in November compared with October, the two sources said.

Both sources declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

As of end-September, banks’ outstanding loans to project development stood at 12.16 trillion yuan ($1.91 trillion), up by 0.02% from a year earlier, central bank data showed.

Quarterly growth of this loan type slowed further from the second quarter by 2.8 percentage points, the data showed.

The real estate sub-index of the Chinese mainland’s blue chip index jumped nearly 5% on Friday following market rumours about potential relaxation of property loans.

The sub-index ended down 4% on Monday.

China will stand firm on policies https://www.reuters.com/business/china-property-financing-tweaks-fall-short-investor-expectations-2021-11-11 to curb excess borrowing by property developers even as it makes financial tweaks to help home buyers and meet reasonable demand, bankers told Reuters previously.

Some banks have accelerated disbursement of approved home loans in some cities, the bankers said.

Last month, central bank official Zou Lan said there had been “misunderstanding” among lenders about the PBOC’s debt-control policies, causing financial strains for some developers.

“Banks should have supported new projects reasonably after (developers) have repaid existing loans,” Zou said. ($1 = 6.3819 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Xiangming Hou, Kevin Huang and Ryan Woo; Writing by Cheng Leng; Additional reporting by Jason Xue; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)



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What’s new in China’s crackdown on crypto?, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Personal Finance

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China‘s most powerful regulators have intensified the country’s crackdown on cryptocurrencies with a blanket ban on all crypto transactions and crypto mining.

The move sent bitcoin and other major coins lower, as well as pressurising crypto and blockchain-related stocks.

What’s new?

Ten Chinese agencies, including the central bank and banking, securities and foreign exchange regulators, have vowed to work together to root out “illegal” cryptocurrency activity.

While China has been putting in place increasingly stricter rules on virtual currencies, it has now made all activities related to them illegal and sent a signal of intent they plan to get even tougher on enforcing the rules.

China’s central People’s Bank of China (PBoC) said it was illegal to facilitate cryptocurrency trading and that it planned to severely punish anyone doing so, including those working for overseas platforms from within China.

The National Development and Reform Council (NDRC) said it would launch a nationwide crackdown on cryptocurrency mining as it tries to phase the sector out entirely.

What’s come before?

China does not recognise cryptocurrencies as legal tender and the banking system does not accept cryptocurrencies or provide relevant services.

In 2013, the government defined bitcoin as a virtual commodity and said individuals were allowed to freely participate in its online trade.

However, later that year, financial regulators, including the PBoC, banned banks and payment companies from providing bitcoin-related services.

In September 2017, China banned initial coin offerings (ICOs) in a bid to protect investors and curb financial risks.

The ICO rules also banned cryptocurrency trading platforms from converting legal tender into cryptocurrencies and vice versa.

The restrictions prompted most such trading platforms to shut down with many moving offshore.

The ICO rules also barred financial firms and payment companies from providing services for ICOs and cryptocurrencies, including account openings, registration, trading, clearing and liquidation services.

By July 2018, 88 virtual currency trading platforms and 85 ICO platforms had withdrawn from the market, the PBOC said.

Why does it keep tightening the rules?

The huge run-up in price in bitcoin and other coins over the past year has revived cryptocurrency trading in China, with investors finding ways round the existing regulations. That’s come as the country is trying to develop its own official digital currency, becoming the first major economy to do so.

Earlier this year, Chinese regulators tightened restrictions that banned financial institutions and payment companies from providing services related to cryptocurrency. An industry directive said that speculative bitcoin trading had rebounded and was infringing “the safety of people’s property and disrupting the normal economic and financial order”.

Many Chinese investors were now trading on platforms owned by Chinese exchanges that had relocated overseas, including Huobi and OKEx. Meanwhile, China’s over-the-counter market for cryptocurrencies has become busy again, while once-dormant trading chartrooms on social media have revived.

China-focused exchanges, which also include Binance and MXC, allow Chinese individuals to open accounts online, a process that takes just a few minutes. They also facilitate peer-to-peer deals in OTC markets that help convert Chinese yuan into cryptocurrencies.

Such transactions are made through banks, or online payment channels such as Alipay or WeChat Pay, though these have since promised to conduct due diligence on clients and set up monitoring systems targeting key websites and accounts to detect illegal crypto-related transactions.

Retail investors also buy “computing power” from cryptocurrency miners, who design various investment schemes that promise quick and fat returns.

What’s the impact of the crackdown?

While cryptocurrencies fell on Friday, the fall was less pronounced than the slide seen in May when China’s State Council, or cabinet, vowed to crack down on bitcoin mining.

The test will be whether China is able to find and punish platforms and people breaking the rules.

Some analysts said that based on what’s gone before, determined investors would still likely find a way to trade.

“While retail traders in China may no longer be able to access online exchange platforms that are now illegal, crypto funds may be able to move management of their funds offshore,” said Ganesh Viswanath Natraj, Assistant Professor of Finance at Warwick Business School.



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China cbank injects 600 bln yuan via medium-term loan, rate unchanged for 16th month, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Personal Finance

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SHANGHAI, – China’s central bank injected billions of yuan through medium-term loans into the financial system on Monday, while keeping the interest rate unchanged for the 16th month in a row.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) kept the rate on 600 billion yuan ($92.64 billion) worth of one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) loans to some financial institutions steady at 2.95% from previous operations.

The PBOC said in a statement that the operation was a rollover of 700 billion yuan of maturing MLF loans due on Tuesday, and effectively drained 100 billion yuan of mid- to long-term liquidity from the banking system.

The central bank also injected another 10 billion yuan worth of seven-day reverse repos into the banking system on the day. ($1 = 6.4768 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Winni Zhou and Andrew Galbraith Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

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China’s central bank says it will keep pressure on crypto market, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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China’s central bank vowed to maintain heavy regulatory pressure on cryptocurrency trading and speculation after escalating its clampdown in the sector earlier this year.

The People’s Bank of China will also supervise financial platform companies to rectify their practices according to regulations, it said in a statement on Saturday. Policy makers met on Friday to discuss work priorities for the second half of the year.

China launched its most intense crackdown on crypto trading and mining since 2017 in recent months, after a surge in Bitcoin and other tokens heightened authorities’ concerns over risks of fraud, money laundering and excessive energy usage. It also imposed a series of regulatory actions targeting monopolistic behavior at online payment platforms such as Ant Group Co. over the past year.

The central bank will act to prevent major financial risks and push to lower the number of high-risk financial institutions in key provinces, according to the statement. It will also accelerate its work to create a financial stability law, which was proposed by Deputy Governor Liu Guiping in March.

The PBOC reiterated that its prudent monetary policy will be flexible, targeted, reasonable and appropriate. It vowed to implement a good “cross-cyclical” policy design, a term widely interpreted to mean authorities will use a longer time frame when considering policy support and will avoid overstimulating the economy.



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Bitcoin swings as China regulators punish company over crypto, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Banking & Finance

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By Joanna Ossinger

Bitcoin fluctuated Tuesday after China’s central bank and a regulator in the capital city took action against a company that was allegedly providing cryptocurrency-related services.

The largest cryptocurrency had risen as much as 3.7% to $35,094 before dropping back after the People’s Bank of China and Beijing’s local financial regulator ordered a company in the city to cancel its business registration. As of 7:55 a.m. in New York it was trading 1% higher at $34,194.

Financial and payments institutions should not directly or indirectly provide virtual currency-related services, the PBOC and the Beijing regulator said in a statement. It named marketing, promotion and display, and location-setting among prohibited activities.

”Whilst not directly affecting crypto, China clampdown on tech firms is another example of it flexing its regulatory muscles against an industry whose oversight has been lacking,” said Antoni Trenchev, co-founder of crypto lender Nexo in London. “Bitcoin too is caught in China’s regulatory crossfire as it’s seen as a threat to the digital yuan.”

China has increased its focus on the cryptocurrency industry, adding restrictions on mining, trading and other services, as well as issuing cautions to entities like banks that might facilitate such transactions. Many miners have shut down or are trying to move out of the country, and mining metrics have showed the decreased activity.

The move came after some chart watchers had been eyeing the 50-day moving average above $36,000 as a potential zone to see a bullish breakout. However, Bitcoin has been stuck in a range of about $30,000 to $40,000 for weeks after dropping from its record near $65,000 reached in mid-April.

“Bitcoin has been trending sideways between $30,000 and $40,000 for the best part of seven weeks now,” Trenchev said. “I expect Bitcoin to remain stuck in this trend for the forseeable future, before grinding higher again.”



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China digital currency trials show threat to Alipay, WeChat duopoly, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Banking & Finance

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SHANGHAI: In China‘s commercial hub Shanghai, six big state banks are quietly promoting digital yuan ahead of a May 5 shopping festival, carrying out a political mandate to provide consumers with a payment alternative to Alipay and WeChat Pay.

The banks are persuading merchant and retail clients to download digital wallets so that transactions during the pilot programme can be made directly in digital yuan, bypassing the ubiquitous payment plumbing laid by tech giants Ant Group, an affiliate of Alibaba, and Tencent.

“People will realise that digital yuan payment is so convenient that I don’t have to rely on Alipay or WeChat Pay anymore,” said a bank official involved in the rollout of e-CNY for the Shanghai trial, under the guidance of China’s central bank. The official is not authorised to speak with media and declined to be identified.

China’s development of a sovereign digital currency, which is far ahead of similar initiatives in other major economies, looks increasingly poised to erode the dominance of Ant Group’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay in online payments.

That turf encroachment coincides with Beijing’s expanding effort to clamp down on anticompetitive behaviour in the internet sector, part of a wider reining in of the clout of sector heavyweights.

Regulators scuppered Ant’s record $37 billion IPO in November and earlier this month imposed a sweeping restructuring on the fintech conglomerate controlled by Jack Ma. Ma’s Alibaba Group Holdings was recently hit with a record $2.8 billion antitrust penalty.

In public, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) says e-CNY won’t compete with AliPay or WeChat Pay, and serves only as a “backup” or “redundancy”.

But in private, state banks marketing the digital fiat currency for the central bank bluntly describe Beijing’s intention to undercut the duo’s dominance.

“Big data is wealth. Whoever owns data thrives,” said another banking official tasked with promoting the e-CNY.

“WeChat Pay and Alipay own an ocean of data,” so the e-CNY rollout facilitates China’s anti-trust campaign and helps the government control big data, he added.

The PBOC and Tencent declined to respond to requests for comment.

Ant declined to comment on the relationship between Alipay and e-CNY. Ant-backed MYbank said it is “one of the parties participating in the research and development” of the e-CNY, and “will steadily advance the trial pursuant to the overall arrangement of the People’s Bank of China.”

Digital cash

The e-CNY digitalises a portion of China’s physical notes and coins, or currency in circulation (M0), and was launched last year in small pilot schemes in four cities.

Under a two-tier distribution system, the PBOC issues the digital currency to banks, which pass the money to individuals and companies.

The six banks in the e-CNY pilot schemes include China’s biggest lenders such Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, and China Construction Bank.

“The e-CNY’s ease of use will likely be comparable to Alipay and WeChat Pay, while its security function will likely be higher, and as sophisticated as Bitcoin,” HSBC wrote in a recent report, adding that it expects the digital currency to “proliferate” within China.

Among a slew of likely motivations cited by HSBC behind the push is the central bank’s desire to gain control of payment channels and consumption data from Alipay and WeChat Pay.

Conspicuously absent

Digital wallets, which are still being beta tested, can be bundled with a dozen popular apps including Meituan, JD.com, Didi and Bilibili, but conspicuously can not be linked to WeChat or Alipay. That means none of the participating banks can transfer e-CNY between their digital wallets and the two established payment platforms.

“PBOC doesn’t want to see the money being routed through third-party payment systems,” a banker said, citing the need for “information segregation”.

The e-CNY will digitise “the last mile” of consumption, enabling banks and merchants to capture data and gain insights into spending patterns, said Wilson Chow, Global TMT Leader, PwC China.

That data is now dominated by Alipay and WeChat Pay, which control a combined 94% of China’s online payment market.

Mass adoption of the e-CNY won’t happen overnight.

Chow predicts that e-CNY will account for roughly 10% of China’s electronic payments market in a few years, co-existing with Alipay and WeChat Pay.

To entice users, bankers said the PBOC will likely give “red envelopes” of free digital cash or discounts to Shanghai citizens around the upcoming shopping festival, an event aimed at promoting spending to fuel economic recovery from Covid-19.

PBOC deputy governor Li Bo told a forum last week that domestic adoption will precede cross-border payments with e-CNY, which many analysts believe will bolster the yuan’s global status as China seeks ultimately to break the dominance of the dollar settlement system.

“The priority of the yuan’s digitalisation is currently to promote its domestic use,” Li said.



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China asks banks to stamp down on loan growth, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Banking & Finance

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China’s central bank has asked major lenders, including the foreign ones, to curtail loan growth for the rest of this year after a surge in the first two months stoked bubble risks.

At a meeting with the People’s Bank of China, banks were told to keep new advances in 2021 at roughly the same level as last year. Some foreign banks were also urged to rein in additional lending through so-called window guidance recently after ramping up their balance sheets in 2020.

China, which keeps tight control over money flows in and out of the country, may be worried that a surge of funds into the country could lead to nasty surprises like inflation.

“On the one hand, there will be a slowdown in loan growth, and on the other hand, the slowdown is quite moderate,” said Lu Ting, chief China economist at Nomura Holdings Inc., adding that the pace is in line with the PBOC’s stance of making no sharp policy turns.

With the coronavirus largely contained and the economy rebounding, Chinese policymakers have renewed a campaign to curb risks, especially in the financial and real estate sectors. Even if credit growth eases, the prospect of higher interest rates and fewer soured assets may boost the profitability of banks, which saw earnings slump after they were enlisted to help borrowers obtain cheap financing during the pandemic.

Foreign banks

Chinese rules have sharply limited the ability of foreign banks to do business in the country, making them less competitive against local rivals. Rules enacted in December and January restricts how much money foreign banks can transfer into China from overseas. Those enacted last month required many foreign banks to make fewer loans and sell off bonds and other investments.

The new rules have caused a stir among the global bank executives and foreign companies in China that depend on those lenders for money. They worry that the rules could make foreign-owned businesses more dependent on China’s state-run banking system for the money they need to grow. That dependence could give Beijing another potential pressure point to use as it squares off against the US and others over trade, human rights, geopolitics and other sticky issues.

Record credit, inflows

In 2020, banks doled out a record 19.6 trillion yuan ($3 trillion) of credit. Lending the same amount this year would bring the outstanding balance to about 192 trillion yuan.

Foreign investors last year increased their holdings of Chinese bonds by about $150 billion. China also surpassed the US last year by taking in $163 billion worth of direct investments in factories, office buildings, companies and other assets.

China’s currency, the renminbi, rose sharply in value against the U.S. dollar in the second half of last year. In May, $1 was worth about 7.15 renminbi. By year’s end, $1 bought about 6.5 renminbi.



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