China’s megabanks are planning at least 40 billion yuan (US$5.8 billion) of bond sales, kicking off a major funding push to comply with global capital requirements by early 2025.

Chinese lenders largely shrugged off the recent banking crisis in developed markets, gaining in value to take the top five spots in a league table of Asia-Pacific banks ranked by market capitalisation.

Major banks have reported declining net interest margins, a crucial measure of their profitability, while the struggling property market portends slower growth, if not an outright contraction, in new mortgage applications.

More than three years after China’s central bank started digital currency trials, adoption in one of the initial test beds, Suzhou, remains lethargic.

Tian Huiyu has been arrested on suspicion of “taking bribes and abusing power”, according to Chinese state-owned broadcaster CCTV, citing the country’s top prosecutor.

ICBC, the world’s largest bank by assets, sees more challenges ahead in staving off the impact of China’s strict zero-Covid measures on its loan quality.

Local governments, banks and media have been promoting the e-CNY through new trials, but transaction volume remains minuscule compared with China’s massive mobile payments market.

Chinese state-owned banks are likely to deliver single-digital growth in first-quarter net profits when they report their results on Friday, but the outlook for the rest of the year is less clear.

The National Supervisory Commission, China’s top anti-corruption watchdog, said on Friday that it was investigating Tian Huiyu for a suspected “serious violation of the party’s discipline and law”.

Dividend payments by onshore Chinese companies likely to exceed 1 trillion yuan for financial year 2021 for the first time, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Leading state-controlled banks are likely to report earnings growth of between 8 and 15 per cent for 2021, according to analysts’ estimates.

Tsingshan Holding Group, which faces billions of dollars in potential losses on short positions in nickel futures, won credit promises from banks including JPMorgan Chase and China Construction Bank, according to people familiar with the matter.

Twelve Hong Kong banks, including note-issuing lenders HSBC, Standard Chartered and Bank of China (Hong Kong), will suspend all banking services on Saturdays starting this week and the next until further notice.

The Beijing-based company, set up in 1999 to manage the bad loans of China Construction Bank, did not say why it withdrew from the December 24 plan.

Comments by People’s Bank of China show it is falling in line with Beijing’s renewed emphasis on ‘stability’, while an economist says China must ‘seize this window of opportunity’ to implement domestic-facing policies.

Chinese banks exited the third quarter with marginal improvement in bad loan ratios. Lending to developers may still become troublesome as Evergrande and distressed peers struggle to repay.

Top architects, engineers from mainland China invited to share expertise with local students as part of high-profile campaign to instil patriotism in Hongkongers.

HKMA allows 16 banks to sell products in Hong Kong and the mainland, while three can only sell to Greater Bay Area residents via the southbound route.

Postal Savings Bank of China reported the highest first-half profit among lenders that published results on Friday. Bocom president optimistic about full-year outlook.

Contingency planning has been a requirement for China’s biggest financial institutions for a decade now.

China’s banking regulator has warned the country’s smaller banks against rushing to grow their property sector loans after a cap on lending by big banks to the highly leveraged industry showed some initial success.

Chinese authorities, anxious to maintain social stability during the centenary year of the ruling Communist Party, are rushing to keep the lid on housing prices and other political hot button issues. Last month, China’s home prices soared by 0.5 per cent across 70 cities tracked by the statistics bureau, at a pace that exceeded the previous month.

Top Chinese banks report first-quarter profit growth in line with analysts’ expectations while exceeding the mainland’s industry average of a 1.5 per cent profit increase.

Chinese lenders closed 1,300 branches in 2020, and the trend has continued into this year amid rising costs and growing mobile banking popularity

Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, says it is ‘inevitable’ the number of bad loans will rise this year due to the pandemic.

Hong Kong investors saw the best start to a year since 1985 on the back of record daily trading volume. The Hang Seng Index rose to a 20-month high, courtesy of record mainland fund inflows.

The task of cleaning up dud loans has taken on added urgency as China’s financial system must brace for a record wave of bond defaults and slumping corporate earnings, as the coronavirus pandemic weigh on consumption and crimps economic growth.

Concerns about the rising coronavirus cases, prospects about the city’s economic recovery and growing budget deficit dented market sentiment.

China’s second-largest lender halted a US$3 billion digital bond programme on the verge of a financial breakthrough, getting cold feet amid scrutiny on fintech and financial risks.