Financial innovation

THE central bank said Friday it will launch pilot programs on innovations around financial standards in the city of Chongqing and the province of Zhejiang.

The programs will “explore new models and new experiences” to regulate systemically important financial institutions and financial infrastructures in the two regions, according to an online statement released by the People’s Bank of China. The central bank will examine the results of the programs in the fourth quarter of 2020, it said.

Loan to Cambodia

CHINA has lent Cambodia US$259 million to build a new road in the capital Phnom Penh.

The concessional loan agreement was signed July 10 between the Export-Import Bank of China and Cambodia’s Ministry of Finance to build a four-lane, 47-km city ring road, China’s Finance Ministry said in a statement Friday.

Property loans

THE central bank said Friday new property loans totaled 3.54 trillion yuan (US$522.09 billion) in the first half of this year.

Outstanding property loans rose 20.4 percent from a year earlier by end of June to 35.78 trillion yuan, said the central bank. Outstanding individual mortgage loans were up 18.6 percent from a year ago by the end of June at 23.84 trillion yuan, data showed.