介绍:
People's Bank of China suspends online credit cards
The People's Bank of China has suspended the use of online credit cards and payments via code scanning.
An official said on Friday that the decision owed to concerns over security.
Zhou Jinhuang, vice director of the PBOC's payment and settlement department, confirmed that a notice has been issued to Tencent and Alipay.
The suspension of online credit cards and payments by scanning a bar or QR code is said to be a temporary measure aimed at safeguarding consumer interests.
China CITIC Bank announced on Tuesday to partner with Tencent and Alipay under Alibaba to issue online credit cards based on code scanning payments.
Shares in CITIC slumped 7 percent on the Hong Kong exchange before trading was halted.
Baoding Tianwei to make bond payment in July
Solar-cell maker Baoding Tianwei has confirmed that it will make a bond payment in July.
This is inspite of concerns about the company's finances.
The company says that it will pay interest due on July 11 on its 5.75 percent 2018 notes.
However, securities brokers say that this is not a sign that the company will be able to repay its other debts.
Baoding Tianwei has at least 26.8 trillion yuan ($4.3 billion) of laons due by the end of 2018, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Tha manufacturer also has a large amount of short-term debts, which totalled 3.9 billion yuan as of the end of last year.
Trading in the company's July 2018 bonds were ceased in March after the company posted a second straight year of losses in 2013.
Corporate News Roundup
Anchor:
Let's check out some other events on the corporate front in China this week.
CRI's Paul James earlier spoke to Doug Young, associate professor at Fudan University and former China company news chief at Reuters.
…
That was CRI's Paul James earlier speaking to Doug Young, associate professor at Fudan University and former China company news chief at Reuters.
China's central bank drains liquidity via repo
The People's Bank of China is moving to suck some liquidity from the system.
China's central bank has conducted a forward repurchase of 100 billion yuan from the system yesterday.
The 28-day repo, at a yield of 4 percent, together with another 100 billion yuan in repos on Tuesday, has resulted in a net capital withdrawal of 40 billion yuan from the banking system this week.
Yesterday's repo is the 8th time the central bank has moved to drain liquidity since February 18th, repurchasing a total of 565 billion yuan during this period.
The money market rates are running quite low right now, suggesting there is abundant liquidity in the banking sector at the moment.
The Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate, or Shibor, a gauge of interbank borrowing costs, is currently below 2-percent.
The 7-day return rate is currently at around 2.5-percent, meaning banks have to pay relatively little to borrow money from other lenders to pay down their daily obligations.
Consumer complaints surge 14 percent in China
Chinese consumers lodged 1 million complaints with a government-sponsored hotline.
This is a 14 percent year on year increase, as more consumers are reporting businesses for illegal practices.
The reports have helped the Administration for Industry and Commerce to identify cases of consumer rights infringements and illegal advertising.
More than 400,000 cases involved companies without business licenses and 131,800 cases infringed upon consumers' rights, the report said.
Authorities helped consumers recover 1.3 billion yuan (211.91 million U.S. dollars) of losses last year.
The complaints hotline 12315 is a nationwide service and also includes an online platform.
U.S. retail sales up 0.3 percent in February
New data shows US retail sales have rebounded in February after two straight months of declines.
The U.S. Department of Commerce is reporting combined retail sales in February have increased 0.3 percent, after falling by a revised 0.6 percent in January.
The figure has topped economists' forecast of 0.2 percent.
Retail sales are up 1.5 percent over the past 12 months.
Consumer spending accounts for about 70-percent of the United States' economic growth.
Airline industry rebound in US
U.S. airlines carried a total of 743.1 million passengers in 2013 as the industry rebounds.
This is up 0.9 percent over the previous year and the highest annual total since 2008.
The passenger volume rose nearly 1 percent even though the number of flights operated by U.S. airlines declined 1.4 percent last year.
大家还在听
