China

Chinese financial authorities granted licences to four foreign banks on Friday, allowing them to carry out transactions in yuan directly with Chinese firms.

Reinsurance intermediary Benfield Group plc said it placed a proportional programme for export and credit reinsurance in China that would likely cover more than US$5 billion worth of business.

China Construction Bank, one of the country's big four State-owned commercial banks, said yesterday it would put an emphasis on development of its overseas business over the next several years.

According to a state media report, President Yang Zilin of the Export-Import Bank of China (Exim Bank) announced a total of 104 billion yuan (U$12.56bn) in loans in 2003.

The central People's Bank of China's (PBOC) monetary policy committee has opted to maintain a prudent monetary policy stance in the months ahead and keep interest rates stable.

The governor of the People's Bank of China, Zhou Xiaochuan, said interest rate ranges for loans should be expanded to improve private business' access to lending.

Government support and rapid economic growth offer "unprecedented" scope for small- and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs) to develop in China, according to Chen Yanhai, deputy director of the SME department of the State Development and Reform Commi

After a report quoted the loan rejection rate for China’s small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as 56 per cent, Ou Xinqian, vice director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), said that the absence of fin

Despite growth numbers that would be phenomenal in a country like the United States or Japan, China's retail sales are seen as a weak spot in an economy being stoked by even stronger factory output, exports and investment.

Coface Group, a world leader in export credit insurance and commercial risk management, has signed a partnership agreement with Ping An, the second-largest insurance company in mainland China.