China

Synpulse’s Prasanna Venkatesan, Gregory Achache and Marina Mai compare China and Hong Kong's regulatory frameworks in relation to culture and conduct.

China currently lacks smooth market exit channels, reflected in insufficient supporting measures and high exit costs for financial institutions in distress, said an NDRC spokesperson.

Under the new rules, local AMCs must price bad assets fairly and are prohibited from setting buyback terms in acquisition contracts to help financial institutions cover up bad assets.

Chinese investigators are said to be targeting Liu's affiliates for suspicious dealings involving investments in high yield wealth management products provided by ICBC Shanghai.

Following the success of the Hong Kong Bond Connect and Shanghai-London Stock Connect, China and the UK are exploring the feasibility of a bond connect programme.

The PBOC is organising market-oriented institutions to jointly research and develop a central bank digital currency, in a programme that has already been approved by the State Council.

The move follows the PBOC's suspension of traders earlier this week for "abnormal" trades which put the overnight repo rate far below normal market rates.

China-based UCF Pay, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed Chong Sing Holdings, reportedly used client funds for other purposes, causing a shortfall of ¥240mn.

Regulators have reportedly found ICBC's Shanghai branch deputy head to be in violation of regulations related to fundraising and buying wealth management products.

The trades involved overnight bond repo transactions in the interbank market at prices below normal market rates.