China

HSBC Chairman Mark Tucker leaned into the microphone at a vast conference table in Beijing, telling British business leaders and senior Chinese officials that he spoke for all UK businesses present in hoping for stronger economic ties.Tucker, chairman of Europe's largest bank, was flanked by UK finance minister Rachel Reeves, who had invited him to lead a delegation aimed at enlisting Chinese support for Britain's growth agenda."It is more important than ever that we accelerate and sustain the forward momentum with a clear focus on the material and mutually beneficial agenda," he told Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and others at the opening of the UK-China Financial Services Summit, news footage of the event on Jan. 11 showed.Just a few weeks later, the lender would reveal plans to wind d...

But then Masdar, the country’s state-owned renewable energy company, decided to make a splash at a huge trade fair in Abu Dhabi. In front of the UAE president, it announced it would build a $6bn 5 gigawatt solar plant backed with more than 19GWh of battery storage — the largest such project ever attempted.  When it starts in two years’ time, its batteries will give the country a constant output of 1GW, enough to power more than 700,000 homes without having to rely on gas-fired plants when the sun is not shining. “This will transform renewable energy into baseload energy,” said Sultan Al Jaber, the chair of Masdar. “It is a first step that could become a giant leap.” As the UAE was revealing its new solar project, Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, announced a ...

China’s factory activity in January unexpectedly contracted, in part due to a slow season ahead of the Lunar New year, reversing the growth seen in the previous three months and keeping alive calls for stronger fiscal support to boost the economy. The official purchasing managers’ index for January came in at 49.1, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday showed, compared with Reuters poll estimates of 50.1. PMI had stayed above the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction for the past three months, coming in at 50.1 in December, 50.3 in November and 50.1 in October, according to the official data. The manufacturing PMI in January tends to be softer, as migrant workers return to hometowns ahead of the Chinese New Year, which falls on Jan. 29, said Hui...

Multiple international financial firms recently announced establishment of their new branch companies in China or latest progress on local business expansion, indicating their growing attention on Chinese capital market. Morgan Stanley announced on Wednesday that its wholly-owned subsidiary futures company in China has officially commenced operations, primarily providing commodity futures brokerage services within China. This is another important milestone for Morgan Stanley's development in China. We will continue to build our comprehensive integrated financial services platform to better serve our domestic and international clients, said Gokul Laroia, CEO of Asia for Morgan Stanley, according to the company's official WeChat account. Morgan Stanley's futures headquarters is loc...

backed financial institutions in China have already placed annual salary caps on their senior executives, the Post has learned, as Beijing pushes forward with a campaign to narrow the wealth gap. The finance sector has been one of the main targets of China’s “common prosperity” drive, which has seen the industry hit with stricter regulatory supervision, rampant pay cuts and even some lay-offs in the past year.The Post previously reported that China’s state-backed financial institutions were planning to introduce staff salary caps set at 3 million yuan (then US$412,000) last July. Since then, several organisations have already implemented the policy – with some introducing an even lower cap, according to people familiar with the matter.Central government-owned financial institutions hav...