Flash News

TREE NEWS update: A court in Jinan, Shandong province, sentenced Bi Jingquan, former standing committee member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and former deputy head of its economic committee, to 14 years in prison for bribery on Sept. 15. He was also fined 5 million yuan, and the bribes and their proceeds recovered in the case will be turned over to the state treasury.

TREE NEWS update: European Central Bank Governing Council member and Bank of France Governor Moulin said rising long-term interest rates are a global phenomenon, and that the inflation outlook justifies ECB rate hikes. Moulin also said France’s financial sector is sound, that countries must take the necessary steps to reduce deficits, and that central banks must maintain credibility on inflation.

TREE NEWS reports: Moonrock Capital founder Simon Dedic said the Senate vote on the Clarity Act is expected in about 10 hours, with Democrats rejecting the Republican draft over “ethics concerns” and Polymarket odds having collapsed. Dedic said that if the bill fails, the SEC will instead provide pro-crypto regulation of comparable strength, and warned that any further inaction would cede US leadership in frontier finance and push top companies offshore.

TREE NEWS update: US prosecutors are seeking $61.19 million in USDT that Tether froze across 10 Tron addresses in 2025, alleging the funds were connected to black-market Iranian oil proceeds. The seizure target ties the stablecoin issuer’s freeze to a sanctions enforcement case. Tether has not commented on the action.

TREE NEWS update: Xiaohongshu released its first Community Finance Ecosystem Pact, setting out eight categories of banned content including illegal stock recommendations and regulating financial marketing on the platform. The company said financial content averaged nearly 2 million posts and about 12 million comments a month over the past year, with 75% of finance monthly active users searching and finance-related search terms up over 110% year on year. Since launching a finance ecosystem cleanup this year, it has removed more than 1.01 million violating posts, 157,000 accounts and over 4.77 million comments in roughly six months.

TREE NEWS update: China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange said non-bank cross-border receipts and payments totaled $1.5 trillion in August, with a net inflow of $62.4 billion, up 4% from July. Goods trade posted a high net inflow, while the services deficit widened 6% on summer study-abroad and travel, and foreign-invested firms’ dividend and interest remittances fell 23% from the seasonal peak. Two-way direct investment stayed broadly stable.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released a draft guide on power battery recycling standards on the 15th, targeting more than 50 national standards to be drafted or revised by 2030. The plan calls for a standards system covering the entire industrial chain and full product lifecycle, aimed at efficient resource use and domestic-international coordination. Power batteries are rich in strategic resources including nickel, cobalt and lithium.

TREE NEWS update: China’s State Administration for Market Regulation, together with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, held an administrative guidance meeting for the online hotel booking platform sector, requiring platforms including Meituan, Douyin, JD.com, Ctrip, Tongcheng and Fliggy to strictly fulfill their compliance responsibilities, guard against and defuse industry competition risks, and maintain a healthy and orderly tourism market environment.

TREE NEWS update: CoinEx announced it will cease operations, starting an orderly wind-down on September 15 and closing withdrawals on December 22, 2026, the ninth anniversary of its launch. The exchange holds about $430 million in wallet assets with all major coin reserve ratios above 100%, and said no insolvency or withdrawal freeze occurred. Founder Yang Haipo cited shrinking trading volume, weak liquidity and rising compliance costs.

TREE NEWS update: Shanghai’s Information Security Testing and Certification Center released “Zhi Ce Neng Shou,” billed as China’s first public service platform for generative AI safety testing, on September 14 at the opening ceremony of the National Cybersecurity Week Shanghai events. The platform was built under the guidance of the Shanghai Cyberspace Administration and the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, and is presented as a public-service approach to domestic AI governance.

TREE NEWS reports: The Bank of England may soon stop selling the long-dated government bonds it bought during the financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, as long-dated gilt yields climb to multi-decade highs. Officials at the BoE, the Treasury and the Debt Management Office have drafted plans, though the final decision rests with the central bank. Market participants expect the BoE to slow its balance-sheet reduction to £50 billion a year over the 12 months starting in October, keeping active sales at about £20 billion.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Natural Resources, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and National Forestry and Grassland Administration issued guidance on optimizing natural resource allocation to promote orderly tourism development. The guidance encourages using existing space for tourism, calling on localities to set criteria for identifying inefficient tourism land, assess such land, and support combined cultural, tourism, sports and commercial business formats.

TREE NEWS update: Hubei province will raise the loss tolerance rate for seed funds investing in the “0 to 1” stage from 50% to 80%, with a maximum tolerance of 100% for a single project, the provincial finance department said at a press conference on fiscal-financial coordination for tech innovation. The province will also exempt early-stage funds from revenue-based performance assessments, judging them instead on the number and quality of seed projects cultivated.

TREE NEWS update: UK Chief Secretary to the Treasury Louise Haigh is expected to tell the Trades Union Congress annual conference today that Britain must “heed the warnings of those at the frontier of AI development” and be ready to work with international partners on public safety and national security. She said AI holds “huge potential” to transform public services, strengthen businesses and deliver scientific breakthroughs.

TREE NEWS update: Crypto exchange CoinEx said it will shut down after nine years of operation, blaming a prolonged market slump, shrinking trading volume and liquidity, and rising regulatory and compliance costs. The exchange announced the closure without giving a specific date for when services will end.

TREE NEWS update: A former client manager at China Construction Bank (Asia), Lam Chun-yin, pleaded guilty to conspiring with a fintech company employee and an accomplice to accept more than US$470,000 in Tether (USDT) for certifying multiple false documents without bank authorization, backing insurance-related investment deals. CCB Asia’s internal investigation uncovered the case and led to an ICAC corruption complaint. Judge Lin Kam-hung adjourned sentencing to September 18; the defendant remains in Correctional Services custody.

TREE NEWS reports: The Bank of England will overhaul its debt sales in response to turmoil in the bond market, according to plans under which it will stop selling 20-year and 30-year government bonds. The change to the central bank’s quantitative tightening programme comes amid volatility in UK gilts.

TREE NEWS reports: Odds of the CLARITY Act passing have fallen to 16% as key Democrats resist the GOP’s “final” offer. Banking groups said the Republican text leaves stablecoin reward loopholes, while tribal gaming interests warned its prediction market provisions threaten tribal sovereignty.

TREE NEWS update: Tuesday’s economic calendar is led by UK ILO employment and unemployment figures for the three months to July at 14:00 Beijing time and the eurozone and German September ZEW economic sentiment indices at 17:00. ECB Vice President Vujcic speaks at 16:00, ECB board member Cipollone at 22:00, and ECB governing council member Escriva discusses the digital euro at 18:00.