Draft rules

THE central bank issued draft rules Tuesday for setting up a fund of up to 1 billion yuan (US$148.47 million) to help manage the risks of third-party payment companies, such as Ant Group’s Alipay and Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat Pay.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) requires payment firms to hand in provisions from January 2019 to secure clients’ money, which comes along with a quarterly interest. Now it plans to take 9.5 percent to 12 percent of that interest into the fund, according to a statement released by the PBOC on its website. The fund, with a cap of 1 billion yuan, will be used to resolve financial risks resulting from bankruptcies and insolvency of third-party payment firms, to maintain financial and social stability, the PBOC said. PBOC will seek public opinion of the draft rules till Nov. 13.

Anti-subsidy probe

CHINA’S commerce ministry said yesterday it launched an anti-subsidy investigation on polyvinyl chloride imports from the United States starting from yesterday.

The launch of the probe followed a call for an investigation made by five Chinese companies Aug. 18 on behalf of the domestic polyvinyl chloride industry, according to a statement from the ministry.

Crude oil imports

THE country’s crude oil imports rose 2.1 percent in September from a month ago as some delayed cargoes finally cleared customs after a months-long port congestion eased, while onshore storage capacity was expanded.

China, the world’s top crude oil importer, took in 48.48 million tons of oil last month, according to data from the General Administration of Customs on Tuesday, equivalent to 11.8 million barrels per day (bpd). That compares to 11.18 million bpd in August and 10.04 million bpd in September last year.