China Economic ReviewChina raised the maximum stake a single investor can own in a mainland insurance company to 20%, a move intended to boost industry investment and expansion. The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) also reduced the amount of extra capital required to open a new branch from US$6 million to US$2.4 million. Insurance companies have a […]
The head of the People's Bank of China said Beijing had no plans to raise interest rates, and with inflation below 5% more time was need to allow for the effectiveness of economic cooling measures taken already to become apparent. Bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said the central government was concerned that if inflation surpasses the […]
Private bank deposits in April increased by 15.9% year-on-year, totaling US$1.45 trillion, according to data released by the People's Bank of China. The growth rate of the outstanding deposits was 2.5 percentage points below the rate for the same period in 2003. The central bank said the US$3.9 billion in new deposits was spurred by […]
The head of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) urged creditors to sue debtors. CBRC chief Liu Mingkang called for an increase in legal action against bad debt in order to establish a more orderly credit culture in China. Standard & Poor's estimates that non-performing loans in China may total more than 40% of the […]
Loans to rural areas grew by 13% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2004, reaching a total of US$161 billion, according to data released by the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC). The growth represented a US$3.4 billion increase over the first quarter of 2003. The CBRC said short-term loans, or loans with maturities not exceeding […]