Hello fintech friends,

How have your summers been so far? 🔥 🔥 🔥 I hope you're enjoying the season! 

Before you dive into the July newsletter, I have an exciting announcement: This Month in Fintech - China will shift to a weekly format starting in August. With this change, we hope to provide you with more concise and timely updates on the latest developments in Chinese fintech and regulations.

Stay tuned for fresh news every week, and let’s keep the conversation going about the evolving landscape of fintech!

Best,

Ning

Licensing & Regulations 

• Chinese regulators have issued a guideline to enhance the punishment and prevention of financial fraud in the capital market. 
• The CSRC has proposed reporting requirements for private funds, clarifying the obligations of fund managers to disclose information to investors and regulators upon discovering major risks. In relation to that, China has appointed an anti-corruption official to head a new committee focused on combating corruption in the financial sector.
• China applied an annual pay cap of 3 million yuan (about $413,000) for executives in the state-owned financial sector. 
• Trade between Russia and China is getting more difficult, with some payments between partners taking up to half a year and many rejected. They are exploring new ways of payments though. 
• Experts warn that Chinese and Indian banks may lose access to US dollars and correspondent banking services as secondary sanctions on Russia intensify.
• Chinese Payments company, XTransfer received in-principle approval (IPA) for a major payment institution (MPI) from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). They’ve also launched a partnership with LatAm’s EBANX.
• PingPong Payments acquired a payment system service provider license in Indonesia. 
• China encourages “High Quality” firms to use foreign debt financing, to support the development of the real economy. 
• Paytm has received government approval to invest $6 million in its payments subsidiary after a two-year wait. After a two-year wait and facing restrictions due to its stake in Ant Group, this allows it to apply for a "payment aggregator" license from the Reserve Bank of India, amid declining market share against competitors like PhonePe and Google Pay.

Financing, Investment & Acquisition 

• Shein committed a $271 million investment in the EU and UK before its potential IPO. 
• Penging, an online financing platform backed by China Vanke, has defaulted on investment products totaling $96.3 million to$110.1 million, impacting even its own employees.
• HKEX listed the first ETF tracking China SOE performance. 

Product & Partnership Launches 

• Alipay rolled out Tap! to make the in-store payment experience simpler for users in China.
• Hangzhou-based Lianlian Global has launched the LianLian Global Payout Service (LGPS), utilizing Thunes’ compliant payment network to facilitate payouts to digital wallets and bank accounts in over 130 countries.
• Mastercard and Alipay announced a ‘Consumer Friendly Zones’ expansion in China.
• M-pesa Tanzania partnered with Alipay to power Tanzania to China cross-border payments.
• Ant Group partnered with BNP Paribas to enhance cross-border payments in Europe.
• China’s YeePay partnered with Terrapay to enhance its global payment capabilities. 
• Tencent-backed Airwallex partnered with Canadian fintech Float to power fast, cost-effective bill pay. 

Other News 

• Guo Dayong, a former deputy governor of the Jiangsu branch of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), is joining UnionPay as its president of China.
• Visa and MasterCard have reduced transaction fees for Chinese merchants when accepting payments from foreign bank card holders.

Other Read

• A 2024 Overview Of The E-CNY, China’s Digital Yuan
• Financial Inclusion and the Rise of QR Payments in Asia
• US dollars exit China’s VC market
• China’s Economic Growth Shows Surprise Slowdown

Why subscribe to This Week in Fintech?

• Join other execs from Visa, Plaid, Stripe, Robinhood, Revolut, Chime, Rapyd, and more to get the latest insights and deep dives.

• Learn from and collaborate with the world's largest fintech community, with 75,000+ members.

• Memberships start at $10 per month.

👉 Join today.