Reciprocity ‘needed’

CHINA’S push to open up its financial sector to foreign banks and financial institutions will be based on the principle of reciprocity, an official said Saturday.

China wants to accelerate the process of opening up, but countries afraid of exposing their own financial sectors to competition would not benefit, Chen Wenhui, the vice chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, told a forum.

AI fund

TIANJIN has announced plans to set up funds worth 100 billion yuan (US$16 billion) to support the artificial intelligence (AI) industry, Xinhua said.

Tianjin will pour the funds into developing sectors such as intelligent hardware and software. It will also set aside 30 billion yuan in a sub-fund for intelligent upgrades for traditional industries.

Rare default

A FIRM controlled by a city government in China’s Inner Mongolia region has failed to make interest and principal payments on nearly 4 billion yuan in off-balance-sheet loans, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The rare loan default highlights growing funding strains on local governments. Xilinhot Geipaishui, a local government financing vehicle controlled by the Xilinhot city government, has failed to repay loans provided by more than 20 leasing firms, said the sources.

Foreign debt

THE government is imposing more restrictions on companies which are trying to raise relatively low-cost funds overseas to help control their financing risks.

Local firms can sell debt overseas if the proceeds are used to support China’s economy, but they must “effectively prevent risks in medium and long-term foreign debt and local debt risks,” the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance said.