Central Bank Investigates Consumer Loans
The Central Bank is conducting an investigation into online syndicated consumer loans, as the internet financial behemoth Ant Financial Service Group comes under the spotlight, Beijing Business Today reported.
The investigation division of the Central Bank on Tuesday issued an urgent notice to start an investigation of online syndicated consumer loans, intending to get a thorough understanding of how banks associated with financial institutions operate consumer loan practices. The banks and financial institutions are required to submit the loan records by July 30.
The authority aims, in particular, to make a diagnostic investigation into Ant Credit Pay and Ant Cash Now, the two online loan products promoted by Ant Financial Service Group, an affiliate company of China's Alibaba Group. There are 24 financial institutions that collaborated in online syndicated consumer loans with Ant Financial Service Group during the period from December 2018 to June 2020, according to the notice.
As of October 2019, national online syndicated consumer loans had reached roughly RMB2 trillion (US$290 billion), with hundreds of banks and financial institutions involved, while Ant Financial Service Group issued up to RMB1 trillion in loans, Caixin Media reported.
Analysts said that the investigation will possibly lead to regulation of loan requirements and scale.
The current individual loan quota for Ant Credit Pay and Ant Cash Now range from RMB500 to RMB50,000 and RMB1000 to RMB300,000 respectively.
Kweichow Moutai's Share Price Target Gets Lift From Strong Baijiu Market
China International Capital Corporation (CICC) announced an increase in its target price for Kweichow Moutai of 24.6% to RMB2109 (US$301.13) per share after the company revealed a substantial increase in profits during the first half of the year.
Kweichow Moutai reported revenues of RMB43.953 billion (US$6.28 billion) in the first half, a rise of 11.31% year-on-year, while its net profit reached RMB22.602 billion (US$3.23 billion), a rise of 13.29% year-on-year, according to its fiscal report released Tuesday.
Kweichow Moutai's share price during this period skyrocketed from RMB1,112.98 (US$158.99) to RMB1,670 (US$238.56) per share, with the company's market value increasing to RMB2.0978 trillion. A clear distilled alcohol known as baijiu, Moutai sells at a wholesale price as high as RMB2550 (US$364.28) per bottle.
CITIC Securities Research said that Kweichow Moutai's fiscal report confirmed the optimistic prospect that the baijiu industry is not likely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to National Statistic Bureau, during the first quarter of this year, the baijiu distilling industry produced a total of 3.5 million kiloliters, a decline of 8.59% year-on-year.
Beijing Office Rental Prices Plunge
Beijing experienced increased office vacancies for the second consecutive quarter, according to a report released by a commercial real estate services and investment company CBRE.
The market net absorption volume of high-quality office buildings in Beijing was a negative 38,700 square meters in the quarter. Meanwhile, office prices in the second quarter fell to RMB420.5 (US$60.05) per square meter monthly rental, as the rate of unoccupied offices in Beijing rose to 15.5%, the highest since 2010.
Real estate sources said the rental price of offices in Beijing's Financial Street area, located in the city's historic center inside Beijing's innermost ring, has fallen to RMB300 (US$42.86) per square meter monthly rental, a drastic drop of 50% year-on-year. Some offices in the area have remained unoccupied this year.
Many small- and medium-sized enterprises have moved to Lize Financial Business District between Beijing's second -ring to third-ring in the district of Fengtai, where offices rental rates average RMB120 (US$17.15) to RMB150 (US$21.43) per square meter monthly rental. The district has enticed the move with a period of rent-free preferential terms, Securities Daily reported.
The CBRE report estimated that there will be 708,000 square meters of office space added to the market, which will stimulate companies' demand to upgrade office space. In the short-term, the decreasing occupancy rate will fuel a drop in rental prices, it said.
Porn-Surfer Using VPN To Visit Foreign Sites Hit With Administrative Penalty
The Public Security Bureau of Changde in the southern province of Hunan said in a WeChat statement that a man who visited foreign-based pornographic websites via a VPN service would receive an administrative penalty.
The man bought the VPN software, Shadowrocket, from his friend in February 2019 and had been using the service on his iPhone to visit the pornographic websites since that time, according to the statement.
The police subsequently issued an "administrative warning" to him based on China's "Management of International Networking" rules, which state that if internet users intend to access such sites, it must be done through state-approved telecommunications networks.
Violators can be stripped of internet access and face administrative penalties and a fine of not more than RMB15000 (US$ 2,143). Additionally, violators who sell VPN services are subject to fines and prison terms of up to three years.
High-End Property Sales Soar
Newly constructed commercial residential buildings in 100 cities across China were purchased at an average price of RMB15,595 (US$2,228) per square meter in the first half of the year, a rise of 10.9% year-on-year, according to a report released by E-house China R&D Institute.
In the four first-tier cities – Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou – the average purchase price of newly constructed commercial residential buildings reached RMB46,515 (US$6,646) per square meter, a rise of 8.1% year-on-year.
In the 32 second-tier cities, the price was up to RMB15,372 (US$2,196) per square meter, a rise of 9.6% year-on-year. Hangzhou, Nanjing and Chengdu experienced comparatively higher increases of 11%, 10% and 21%, respectively, despite recently implemented austerity policies.
In the 64 third-tier and fourth-tier cities, the average purchase price was RMB11,984 (US$1,712) per square meter, a rise of 9.7%.
The report indicate that real estate markets were overheated in the 11 cities – Zhuhai, Jiangyin, Suzhou, Chuzhou, Yinchuan, Nanchang, Haerbin, Guilin, Chengdu, Wuhu and Qinghuadao – with increases of over 20% year-on-year in each.
In the face of large fluctuations in stocks and relaxed bank loan policies combined with ongoing inflation, investors preferred to acquire high-quality properties in the first half, according to the report.
