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Banking & Finance Law & Regulation

State Council approves plan to scrap commercial banks' loan-to-deposit ratio

The State Council has announced its approval of a draft amendment to China’s commercial banking law that would end the current loan-to-deposit ratio requirement preventing non-state banks from lending more than 75% of their deposits, South China Morning Post reported. Scrapping the longstanding requirement would help privately owned lenders and a nascent online banking sector […]

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Banking & Finance Economics & Trade Investment Law & Regulation Politics & Society

Local government bond issuance echoes state bank bailouts of 1990s

Beijing granting provinces permission to issue at least RMB2.6 trillion (US$419 billion) in bonds this year for the first time in decades recalls the public bailout of China’s state-owned banks in the 1990s and runs counter to its pledge to grant a greater role to market forces in the economy, The Wall Street Journal reported, […]

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Banking & Finance Economics & Trade Law & Regulation Politics & Society

Prosecutors seek money laundering suit against Bank of China in Italy

Florentian prosecutors have formally requested the trial of Bank of China’s Milan branch along with nearly 300 individuals – most of them Chinese nationals – on charges including money laundering and tax evasion, Reuters reported, citing a copy of the request document. The document stems from an investigation begun in 2008 and points to the […]

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Banking & Finance Business Practice Law & Regulation Politics & Society

Report finds only 40% of RMB104bn in lottery money accounted for

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences was only able find evidence showing RMB40 billion of the RMB104 billion raised by China’s state-run lotteries was actually spent on social welfare projects per the institution’s mandate, The Financial Times reported, citing an annual report on charitable donations from the academy. The new section of the report on […]

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Banking & Finance Investment Law & Regulation Markets

Securities regulator division chief detained after stocks plummet

The division chief at the China Securities Regulatory Commission’s department of public offering supervision, Li Zhiling, was fired and detained by police investigating abuses of power on Saturday after her spouse was found to have illegally traded shares, South China Morning Post reported, citing a statement from the commission. The detention came one day after […]