Alibaba: Shrewd smiles as online bankers test new tech
BEIJING | March 28, 2015 | By Zhang Yuzhe via Caixin | Alibaba is betting on biometrics as the next step for secure online financial transactions and bank account business.
China
Western real estate markets: The new horizon for Chinese investors
A fourth wave of Chinese investors keen to explore growth opportunities is emerging, according to a recent report from the consultancy firm Knight Frank. And experts predict that the trend will grow further in the coming years, fostering greater synergies between Chinese real estate agents and overseas Chinese investors. The goals and strategies of this new investor are more diversified; with a special focus in new and secondary markets, and away from major cities such as London, New York. Countries like Spain and Portugal are able to provide additional perks, such as programmes through which investors can obtain residence permits.
China has think tank quantity, but not quality
BEIJING | March 13, 2015 | By Fan Bi via Caixin | The country has the second-most think tanks in the world, but their weak research reports are not much use to policymakers.
‘One belt, one road’ and how China aims to lead trade between Asia and Europe
Iris Mir | China aims to recover the ancient Silk Road to create an unprecedented trade link between Asia and Europe. Least developed Chinese provinces would also benefit largely from the ‘one belt, one road’ project as Beijing will need to invest greatly in infrastructure and high-speed railways. Local governments see the project as a golden opportunity to revive stagnating growth.
China: Winners and losers of faster reforms in 2015
ZURICH | UBS analysts | We expect reforms to accelerate in 2015. As the government moves toward systematic “rule by law” and the property downturn persists, more space will open up and pressure increase for economic reforms to accelerate. We see three themes for China’s reforms this year: growth support, risk containment and rebalancing. In other words, reforms that can unlock new sources of growth and bolster domestic demand, reduce economic and financial risks, or diminish/remove structural imbalances should advance most.
Hu-Gang Tong puts China on path to strong capital market
SHANGHAI | By Qi Bing via Caixin | The smooth opening of the Hu-Gang Tong, the Shanghai-Hong Kong bourse linkage, marked the entrance of the Chinese capital market to a new era and was a major global event. It follows on progress China has made in opening up its markets after joining the World Trade Organization, and will hopefully greatly boost the country’s economic and social reforms in the years to come.
In-depth: China desperate at cooling down the property bubble
Iris Mir | China’s real state market is cooling down. Rampant investment in the past few years has caused lingering oversupply and a drop in investment prices. Property developers suffer a very risky lack of liquidity and limited access to credit that prevents them from being able to repay previous loans. China’s real state sector represents a 15% of the national GDP; and it plays a crucial role in other sectors. The government is very keen on lending all the necessary support to maintain the speculative frenzy. But analysts believe that recent measures will not solve the structural problems of the housing market.
Welcome to the New Normal in China
BEIJING | By Xiu Gao via Caixin | The annual Central Economic Work Conference report sketches a framework for looser monetary policies and adjustments to slower economic growth in China.
Retail traditions hit a wall at Wal-Mart China
BEIJING | By Li Xuena via Caixin | Zhong Shidan started climbing the Wal-Mart career ladder 18 years ago after she joined the U.S. retail giant’s Shenzhen outlet as a shop assistant. Today, Zhong holds a high-level operations department position and oversees the company’s more than 80,000 employees in China. She goes by the English name Grace and works hard to reflect well on Wal-Mart as an executive who is persistent, smart and focused.
The new ‘growth package’ from the EU
By Peter Lundgreen via Caixin | Last week, China’s biggest export destination, the European Union established a new growth package. The desired size of a new investment fund is 315 billion euros, and it will be called the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). During a period of three years, new investments financed by the fund are expected to lift annual GDP growth in the EU by 0.7 percentage points. The calculations from the EU show that the package can create between 1 million and 1.3 million new jobs.