Hi fintech friends,

Please find another week of Chinese economy, regulation and fintech updates in the below.

Licensing & Regulations

• The US Department of Defense has expanded its annual list of "Chinese military companies" by adding tech giant Tencent. 
• Cross-border payment company XTransfer has obtained Singapore’s Major Payment Institution (MPI) License and a Chinese payment license. Except for Payoneer, most of the top cross-border payment companies have a Chinese payment license now, including PingPong, Airwallex, WorldFirst and PayPal. 
• China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) required banks to ramp up risk monitoring in cross-border financial activities such as underground banks and virtual currencies. 
• Hong Kong’s HashKey Group has received Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) registration from the Central Bank of Ireland, which allows them to offer services such as exchanging virtual assets, facilitating virtual asset transfers, and providing secure custodian wallet services.

Product & Partnership Launches

• JD.com has gradually rolled out its integration with Alipay as the government pushes more for cross-platform compatibility among top e-commerce platforms. 
• SC Ventures, Standard Chartered’s innovation, fintech investment and ventures arm, has launched Labamu, a digital invoicing and billing platform for small businesses across the APAC markets, starting with Indonesia.

Financing, Investment & Acquisition

• Shein is aiming to IPO in London in the first half of the year. 
• Chinese investors are buying up large amounts of Hong Kong mutual fund products that invest overseas.

Other Read

• The TikTok ban heads to the Supreme Court tomorrow. Here's what to know about the case.
• How the US TikTok ban would actually work?

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