John Wu

Hong Kong to maintain openness and global connectivity amid trade conflicts

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China's net income for 2024 grew 0.5% year over year, as lower impairment losses on assets more than offset the decline in net interest income. The lender expects interest margin pressure to further ease in 2025.

The number of M&A deals in the world’s second-largest economy slipped to a four-year low of 2,574 in 2023 from 2,598 the year before, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The number of M&A deals in the world’s second-largest economy slipped to a four-year low of 2,574 in 2023 from 2,598 the year before, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission said boosting liquidity for its capital markets is one of the priorities in the next three years, along with enhancing ties with mainland China and other overseas regulators.

Dividend payout at each of the four largest listed Taiwanese financial holding companies is likely to rise in 2024, but the firms will be assessing how proposed regulations will play out.

Core shadow banking assets totaled 17.66 trillion yuan as of end-July, up 1.67% from a year earlier, according to central bank data. Such assets have been declining in recent years.

China’s equity fundraising momentum will likely remain strong in 2023 amid accommodative monetary policy and a regulatory push to make it easier for quality companies to access equity capital.

China’s green bond sales are expected reach up to $100 billion in 2023 amid a focus on adopting globally accepted norms to attract a wider pool of capital.

China’s structured finance market could grow 4% in 2023, though the issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities will likely stay quiet amid the decline in home sales, according to S&P Global Ratings.

Big four Chinese banks still have a 3.7 trillion yuan total loss-absorbing capital gap, which has narrowed from 6 trillion yuan two years ago, to fill before 2025.

China’s local government financing vehicles, or LGFVs, issued a record US$39.5 billion in cross-border debt in 2022 amid higher global interest rates, according to S&P Global Ratings.

Leaders at the Central Economic Work Conference that ended Dec. 16 urged government agencies to improve collaboration and step up macro policy support, hinting at more business-friendly policies and further support for the property sector.

China’s megabanks will likely maintain credit quality as top regulators indicate marginal improvement in the property sector, in which risks remain manageable.

Beijing will likely ask banks to step up lending to the high-tech sector after President Xi Jinping reaffirmed technological self-sufficiency and

Some of the biggest Chinese lenders affirmed their commitment to support the real economy as they seek to contribute to the country’s economic development.

The excess capital buffers of China’s banking system, relative to the size of the securitized market, indicate that the likelihood of the current mortgage boycott to cause systemwide distress is low, analysts said.

An estimated 40% of the real estate builders in China are in some sort of financial trouble and the sector’s stressed loans may be higher than reported, S&P Global Ratings said.

Recent measures aimed at reviving mortgage demand while keeping a tight grip on developers’ leverage highlight the delicate balancing act Beijing has faced since the downturn in the property sector last year.

Despite prospects of increasing cooperation on cross-border financial messaging, China's homegrown payment system is still too small and too narrow in scope to replace Russia's lost access to the international financial system, analysts said.