China’s four major state-owned banks on Monday revealed the amount of A-shares that Central Huijin Investment Ltd.purchased in them in an effort to shore up confidence in the financial market. In separate filings to the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the banks specified the purchases by Central Huijin on Thursday — 42.93 million shares in Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), 24.49 million shares in China Construction Bank, 19.32 million shares in Industrial [...]

It looks like everyone who has money in the Chinese stock market is IPO-phobic. Talk about the imminent ending of the unofficial moratorium on initial public offerings in recent weeks has struck terror in the hearts of many investors. What has irked them even more is that a fairly large number of stocks that obtained a market listing in the past several years have been trading at below their issue [...]

Policy makers hesitant about next step as money supply increases a lot A faster-than-expected increase in money supply and soaring bank credit but modest economic growth is an equation that has left Chinese monetary policy makers puzzled and hesitant about their next step. Any impulse to ease or tighten monetary policy at the moment may lead to irretrievably awful results as economists reveal their helplessness. Robert E. Hall and David [...]

As a growing number of foreign investment banks lower their outlooks for China’s economy and several of its industries, local investors should look carefully at the intentions behind these downgrades before blindly using them to direct their own investment moves. I would like to remind Chinese investors that these banks are for-profit entities that, at their core, are motivated by their own bottom lines rather than the need to protect [...]

Summary: The risks associated with leading China’s $500 billion sovereign wealth fund along with internal problems related to how the company is run, are turning the search for a new chairman for CIC into a headache for officials. China’s leaders are anxious to find a new chairman for China Investment Corporation (CIC), the country’s $500 billion sovereign wealth fund. The former head, Lou Jiwei (楼继伟), left the fund after he [...]

China’s fiscal revenue continued a trend of slow growth in May due to tempered economic expansion and the country’s tax cutting policies, according to official data released on Sunday. Total fiscal revenue grew 6.2 percent year on year to 1.27 trillion yuan ($204.84 billion) in May, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said in a statement. The growth rate was slightly up from the 6.1 percent growth seen in April, data [...]

Top Chinese auditor office on Monday warned risks relating to some local governments’ fast debt growth and their pressure to repay existing debt. A four-month audit, by the National Audit Office (NAO), found liabilities of 3.85 trillion yuan ($624.61 billion) owed by 36 local governments, including Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing municipalities as well as Jiangsu, Guangdong and Shandong provinces, by the end of 2012. The debt amount was 12.94 percent [...]

China’s financial system is undergoing reforms, but the outcome isn’t guaranteed China’s central bank is paying unprecedented attention to the stability of the financial sector. On May 24, the People’s Bank of China (PBC), the country’s central bank, issued the Financial Stability Report 2013, saying that one of the key tasks for 2013 would be to improve the system of monitoring, assessing and disposing of systemic risks, which include local [...]

Summary: A business owner fleeing 800 million yuan in debt from Jiangyin, Jiangsu highlights financial transparency issues the city is having. Xu Cailiang (许才良), owner of Rong Tai Oil Technology Ltd. (融泰石油科技股份有限公司), fled to the U.S. last month leaving behind 800 million yuan in debt. A source at the local financing office said that the company was founded in 2007 in Jiangyin (江阴), Jiangsu and has been losing money ever [...]

The number of mainland-listed companies which have recently reported resignations within their senior ranks grew Thursday as Liuzhou Liangmianzhen, Chengde Nanjiang and Hainan Shuangcheng Pharmaceuticals each submitted exchange filings announcing upper-management departures. This latest batch of resignations means a total of 36 senior executives have stated their intentions to leave 29 public companies so far through the first week of June – unspecified “personal reasons”  and job changes were cited [...]