Monthly Archives: December 2010
Table of Contents of December 2010
1. Cover story
2. Economy outlook
The 21st Session of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade concluded.
3. Financial strategy
HSBC names Global Banking and Markets top team
4. Legal spotlight
Progress made in cross-strait consultations on Investment Protection Agreement
5. Point of interest
China’s Top Ten Tourist Cities
6. Remark from editor
Will we see the simultaneous rising of two rates?
Filed under Contents
Interest rate liberation
On December 17, 2010, Governor Zhou Xiaochuan of the People’s Bank of China (PBC) was invited to speak at the Caijing Annual Meeting titled the “2011: Forecast and Strategy”. Governor Zhou elaborated on promoting interest rate liberalization, a task outlined in the Proposal of the CCP Central Committee Concerning the Formulation of the 12th Five-Year National Economic and Social Development Program, including the backdrop of market-based interest rate reform, its progress and necessary conditions and a blueprint for the next stage reform. Continue reading
Filed under Cover story
The 21st Session of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade concluded.
December 15th, 2010 marked the end of the 21st session of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) in Washington, D.C. The JCCT was co-chaired by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk along with Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack also participated in the discussions. Today’s outcomes will make U.S. businesses more competitive in China, help boost U.S. exports and jobs, and increase market access for U.S. businesses, creators, innovators, entrepreneurs, farmers and ranchers seeking to do business in China.
Specifically, China agreed to significant initiatives in several areas, including intellectual property rights enforcement, open and neutral technology standards, clean energy, and government procurement. Importantly, on indigenous innovation, China agreed not to discriminate in government procurement based on the origin of intellectual property or to use discriminatory criteria to select industrial equipment. China also agreed to resume talks on beef market access. Continue reading
Filed under Financial strategy
HSBC names Global Banking and Markets top team
HSBC Holdings plc has announced on December 10, 2010 the appointment of Samir Assaf as Chief Executive of its Global Banking and Markets business with effect from 1 January 2011. He succeeds Stuart Gulliver who becomes Group Chief Executive on the same date. Samir, currently Head of Global Markets, will report to Stuart and becomes a Group Managing Director, joining HSBC’s Group Management Board.
Samir, a 23-year capital markets veteran, has played a key role in the rapid growth of Global Markets’ fixed income business in Europe and the development of the rates and equities structured-product platforms globally. Continue reading
Filed under Financial strategy
Progress made in cross-strait consultations on Investment Protection Agreement
From December 20th to 22nd, the sixth talks between the head of ARATS (Association for Relations across the Taiwan Straits) and that of SEF (Straits Exchange Foundation) was held in Taipei. Experts from the two sides had a discussion on the cross-strait investment protection agreement and made some progress.
According to the consensus reached at the fifth talks and provisions of the second paragraph, Article five of ECFA (Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement), the two sides had exchanged views on the establishment of investment safeguard mechanism, the improvement of transparency for investment-related provisions, the gradual reduction of restrictions on mutual investment and the promotion for investment facilitation. From the interests of cross-strait investors, the both sides agreed that they should follow the conventions and practices, reflect their own characteristics, improve the investment environment and effectively protect and promote mutual investment. Continue reading
Filed under Legal spotlight
China’s Top Ten Tourist Cities
The results of the selection contest of “2010 Chinese City Roll: China’s Tourist Cities Recommended by Global Netizens” were announced in Beijing recently, with Harbin, Hangzhou, Mount Huang, Jinan, Kashgar, Lijiang, Luoyang, Sanya, Suzhou and Xi’an ranking top 10 of China’s Tourist Cities Recommended by Global Netizens. Continue reading
Filed under Point of interest
Will we see the simultaneous rising of two rates?
Cheming Yang
The People’s Bank of China has decided to raise RMB benchmark deposit and loan rates of financial institutions as of Dec. 26, 2010. The one-year benchmark deposit and loan rates are raised by 0.25 percentage points respectively.
Will we see the rise of the exchange rates for RMB and the rise of interest rates simultaneously in the near future? RMB has under constant pressure to appreciate in these two years. The appreciation of RMB is good for reducing the consumer prices but bad for export. The whole world including the Chinese community has been facing the pressure of inflation since the economic downturn a few years back. RMB appreciation appears to be a good move from this perspective. However, potential decrease in export will slow down the economic growth of China, which is likely to widen the income gap in China. Continue reading
Filed under Remark from editor
GOLD MONEY TALK 