China

Hong Kong Makes First Rate Cut Since 2020 (TWIF - China 9/19)

Hello fintech friends,

Welcome to the latest China fintech news. As always, your feedback is most welcome! Reach out to me at ning@thisweekinfintech.com.

Licensing & Regulations

China is requiring state-owned investment bankers to turn in their passports to further combat corruption.
China is considering revising its anti-money laundering regulations to improve its ability to monitor and analyze money laundering risks posed by emerging financial technologies, including cryptocurrencies.

Financing, Investment & Acquisition

Ant Group has completed the acquisition of Chinese online healthcare platform Haodf.com.

Product & Partnership Launches

PayNet and Wechat Pay have partnered to allow Chinese travelers to use DuitNow QR for payments at over 2 million Malaysian merchants.
UnionPay and Singaporean AXS have teamed up to offer a new bill payment service for Chinese residents living in Singapore.
Tencent is looking to expand its cloud and software solutions beyond China, with a particular focus on Southeast Asia and the Middle East and Africa.

Other News

Hong Kong cut interest rates for the first time since 2020. The Monetary Authority lowered the rate by 50 basis points to 5.25%.
The US plans to change trade rules to target Chinese eCommerce platforms that have abused the de minimis exception. The proposed rules would exclude 40% of all US imports from the exception, including 70% of textile and apparel imports from China.
Hong Kong is set to release its first official policy on AI in finance, potentially accelerating the adoption of AI in areas like trading, investment banking, and cryptocurrencies.

Additional Read

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