China to Brief on Policy to Tackle Late Payments to SMEs on Sept 14

The inter-agency lineup is the signal here: pairing the central bank and securities regulator with the SME and state-asset authorities suggests late payments are being treated as a financing and balance-sheet issue, not just a contract-enforcement one. That matters because the largest payers are often state-linked buyers whose payment behaviour feeds directly into supplier cash flow and credit conditions. Whether this briefing produces enforceable mechanisms rather than guidance is the open question, and whether the participation of the securities regulator points to consequences in capital markets for slow payers.