CX Daily: State Insurance Boss’s Capital Games in Hong Kong

Corruption /

Cover Story: State insurance boss’s capital games in Hong Kong

In China’s financial circles, Wang Bin is known as a capable and well-connected executive who steered China Taiping Insurance Group Ltd., one of the country’s largest state-owned insurance companies, onto the fast track.

But he is also known as a tyrannical leader who has never been reluctant to leverage his power and who apparently conducted a vast tangle of shady business dealings with a network of associates of whom many have since been convicted of corruption.

The 64-year-old chairman of China Life Insurance (Group) Co., the nation’s biggest insurance company, became one of the highest-ranking financial officials to fall under scrutiny of the Communist Party’s anti-graft agency last month. Authorities have yet to release any details of Wang’s case, but Caixin learned that he allegedly reaped enormous illegal gains, including a cache of gold bars found at his home.

FINANCE & ECONOMY

The pilot program for retirement WMPs is part of China’s pension overhaul to expand sources of retirement income amid looming shortfalls in the state pension system.

WMPs /

BlackRock unit gets green light to join personal pension trial in China

A subsidiary of U.S. asset manager BlackRock Inc. received approval to start selling retirement wealth management products (WMPs) in two major Chinese cities as China expands a pilot pension program aimed at boosting residents’ retirement income.

BlackRock CCB Wealth Management Ltd. received a green light from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) to launch retirement WMPs, a type of personal pension product, in Guangzhou and Chengdu for a one-year trial period, according to a notice released by the commission Friday.

Land /

China’s sales of land-use rights plunge, squeezing local government budgets

Multiple provincial-level regions in China suffered dramatic declines in sales of land-use rights last year as cash-strapped property developers curtailed bidding amid tight credit policies.

Among the provinces and provincial-level regions that reported land sales data for 2021, Yunnan, Hebei, Guangdong, Jiangxi and Fujian provinces and the Chongqing provincial-level municipality recorded lower revenue from land auctions compared with 2020.

Covid-19 /

Suzhou limits medical services, suspends schools after Covid cases emerge

The city of Suzhou in East China’s Jiangsu province beefed up epidemic control measures, including suspending online and in-person sales of anti-fever medicine as well as part of hospitals’ outpatient and emergency medical services, after four people tested positive for Covid-19 Sunday.

Another four people tested positive since then, bringing the total to eight cases, local authorities said at a Monday press conference. Preliminary analysis showed the patients were infected with the highly transmissible omicron variant.

Mainland to help Hong Kong in its fight against Covid

Quick hits /

Chinese households add $851 billion to savings in January

Singapore’s DBS reports strong profits amid positive outlook from rising rates

BUSINESS & TECH

China has given conditional approval for emergency use of U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc.’s Covid-19 antiviral medicine Paxlovid. Photo: IC Photo

Drug /

China approves Pfizer’s Covid-19 treatment for vulnerable patients

China’s drug regulator gave conditional approval for emergency use of U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc.’s Covid-19 antiviral medicine Paxlovid, making it the first oral treatment cleared to treat patients in the country as authorities continue to battle ongoing flare-ups of the coronavirus.

Paxlovid will be used to treat adults suffering mild to moderate Covid-19-induced pneumonia who are at high risk of developing severe illness, especially those that have comorbidities like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) said in a statement Saturday (link in Chinese).

Property /

Property giant Vanke prepares for ‘life or death’ battle amid flagging market

Real estate giant China Vanke Co. Ltd. is planning to shrink its balance sheet and take cost-saving measures as the nation’s languishing property market shows little sign of recovery.

“We are facing a battle this year for life or death, with no gray area. The real estate industry’s overall balance sheet will shrink, which means its development will rely less on borrowing,” Vanke Chairman Yu Liang told the company’s annual managers’ conference in January, according to a transcript of the speech verified by Caixin.

Zhenro stock plunges 66% on bond redemption concern

Metaverse /

China’s most popular metaverse app removed from Apple's app store

Metaverse social app Zheli (啫喱) was removed from Apple’s Chinese App Store after apparently becoming a victim of its own sudden and blistering success.

Publisher Beijing Particle Information Technology Co. Ltd. said in a social media post (link in Chinese) Sunday that it took down Zheli that day due to “technical issues,” including crashes, lagging and outages caused by unexpected demand.

Quick hits /

BMW sees $9.1 billion profit boost from raising China stake

Binance to invest $200 million in news publisher Forbes

New York set for first Chinese IPO in seven months

GALLERY

China’s medalists pursue their second shot at gold

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