SOE reform in China needs examples more than policies
BEIJING | By Caixin | A breakthrough can only happen when central SOEs inChina – not just their subsidiaries – welcome private investment.
China
Market chatter: down the road to a banking union and much more
MADRID | By Jaime Santisteban | In a crucial day for the long-awaited banking union in Europe, market makers also chattered about many other issues, like the Bank of Spain -which has denied it plans to subject Spanish lenders to stress tests this month- achieving less tough criteria for Spanish banks in the upcoming EU stress tests.
China: Why ‘gentleman’ matters
BEIJING | By Will Spence via Caixin | The English Gentleman may be one of our country’s most enduring national symbols, but it is still a somewhat controversial topic back home. In China, however, the concept has flourished in a wholly positive way. The Chinese government often says it wants to build up its soft power, but for this to happen it may have to embrace its heritage and adopt a gentler approach.
Chinese Banks Saw Value of Bad Loans Rise Last Year, Annual Reports Show
BEIJING | By Wu Hongyuran via Caixin | Executive at large bank says figure may have increased by another 60 billion yuan over the first two months of the year.
China: shadow finance for the masses
Iris Mir | Tight control of capital accounts has pushed China to a financial deadlock. Chinese savers are looking to new online investment platforms amid a lack of substantial wealth management options. Last year China’s Internet payment platform launched the online investment platform Yu’e Bao to offer its users the possibility of investing the idle money on their Alipay accounts and getting much higher benefits than any traditional bank. More than 43.03 million people already enjoy its advantageous financial products. The opportunities of this business model are huge and many other Chinese internet giants are following suit.
Achtung: German businessmen express doubts on growth and labor reforms
BERLIN | By Alberto Lozano | German Council of economic experts (‘the Five Wise Men’) upgraded its forecast for the country’s GDP growth in 2014 to 1.9 percent from its previous expectation of 1.6 percent in November last year. However, the last Ifo’s data show that global events like Crimea crisis and a slowing Chinese GDP growth can badly impact the euro zone’s engine.
China: The mirage of the ‘new economy’
SHANGHAI | By Andy Xie via Caixin | The current Internet boom and the new economy, centered around social networking, e-commerce and online gaming, has not produced a significant productivity boost for the economy and likely will not in the future. The boom is mostly about redistributing existing demand from offline to online.
Today’s Talk Of The Market In Spain
MADRID | By Jaime Santisteban | It could be a big deal. The Spanish government has to evaluate a comprehensive report on the tax system reforms handed by an experts’ comittee “We have spared no one,” they’ve said. Will this really boost simplicity and efficiency? Market makers await further details about where the government stands on each proposal. Besides, focus remains in Ukraine ans the polemic referendum in Crimea, and in China, whose PM announced that more defaults are coming.
China: Omnipresent Scarcity
China is reaching a crucial point in which both the Communist Party and the citizens must define what they want to be and in which direction they want to move. The human costs of three decades of rampant growth are huge and the country is facing pressing challenges such as environmental pollution, deep social inequalities and weak employment opportunities. It may be time for China to start figuring out the puzzle of allocating resources in a country of 1.3 billion people.
China: Eyes on the Prize
BEIJING | By Andy Xie via Caixin | Poor economic data in China will make the short-sighted howl, but policymakers know it is really a sign of rebalancing – and raising per capita incomes.