CX Daily: What’s Worrying Regulators About China’s Mutual Fund Boom

Funds /

In Depth: What’s worrying regulators about China’s mutual fund boom

China’s mutual fund market?has recorded rapid growth?in the past few years, thanks to retail investors’ increasing affluence and the ease that new streamlined sales channels bring — allowing people to make purchases with merely a few clicks on their smartphones.

As of December, total assets under management in mutual funds reached 26.03 trillion yuan ($3.85 trillion), almost double the amount three years earlier, data compiled by the Asset Management Association of China show.

But one trend in this vast market has regulators worried: While both fund management firms and distributors have benefited from the mutual fund boom, it’s the distributors that are getting the bigger slice of the pie.

China-U.S. /

China calls balloon incident a ‘test’ for U.S. to improve relations

The U.S. response to the drifting of a Chinese balloon into its airspace is a display of how well it can manage the world’s most important bilateral relationship, which has grown increasingly tense in recent years,?China’s foreign ministry said Monday.

The incident transfixed the world last week as the balloon floated over the U.S. for several days before being shot down off the country’s East Coast. It is “a test for the U.S. side’s sincerity about stabilizing and improving its relations with China and its approach to crisis management,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Monday at a daily briefing.

FINANCE & ECONOMY

The China Securities Regulatory Commission headquarters in Beijing on April 18. Photo: VCG

Committees /

China stock exchanges appoint IPO review committees to clean up listings

The Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges?unveiled a new committee lineup?overseeing IPOs and M&A deals under the newly expanded registration-based system as authorities seek to raise the integrity of such processes and stamp out financial corruption.

The bourses each appointed 30 people as members of two review committees — one for new listings and the other for restructuring as well as mergers and acquisitions — the exchanges said Friday.

Listing /

Hong Kong leader pushes Aramco to sell shares on the HKEX

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee?is seeking to persuade?Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil giant Aramco to sell shares in the Asian financial hub in his first official visit to the Middle East.

The city’s leader plans to argue the advantages of Hong Kong and encourage Aramco and its units to participate in cooperation in Hong Kong at different level, Lee told local media.

Corruption /

Former Zheshang Bank chairman under anti-graft investigation

Shen Renkang, former chairman of China Zheshang Bank,?is under investigation?for suspected violations of law, the country’s anti-graft watchdog said Monday.

Shen, 60, and his wife were taken away by authorities following the Lunar New Year holiday in late January, Caixin learned from sources.

Another ex-financial regulator?expelled from Communist Party over graft allegations

BUSINESS & TECH

ChatGPT is a conversational artificial intelligence software application developed by OpenAI. Photo: VCG

ChatGPT /

Baidu talks up ERNIE as China’s answer to ChatGPT

Leading search engine Baidu Inc. is preparing to launch its own Chinese rendition of ChatGPT in March,?the search giant?said Tuesday, hoping to cash in on a craze that has made a global celebrity of the AI-powered chatbot developed by OpenAI.

The ERNIE bot, known as Wenxin Yiyan (文心一言) in Chinese, is undergoing final tests before its planned public debut, Baidu told Caixin in a statement. ChatGPT has wowed users with its ability to provide realistic answers to questions and even write prose and poetry that are in many cases hard to distinguish from human efforts.

Steel /

Real estate slump pushes China Baowu Steel to speed up overseas expansion

China’s largest steelmaker?vowed to speed up overseas expansion?this year after the domestic industry was hobbled by the sharp decline in property construction, according to a statement that followed its annual general meeting Monday.

China Baowu Steel Group Corp. Ltd. plans to kick off construction of several overseas projects in 2023, including production lines in Indonesia and mining joint ventures in Australia, Chen Derong, chairman of the state-owned giant, said at the meeting.

Quick hits /

Wuhan eases key home-buying ban?to arrest China housing slump

BYD is more likely to build?its own factory in Europe than take one over

Tech Insider /

Rare iPhone discount in China, Lidar-maker Hesai eyes $171 million IPO

Long Read /

Is someone stealing?Chinese New Year?

GALLERY

Over 4,300 killed in Turkey earthquake