Flash News

TREE NEWS update: China has issued its “Financial Powerhouse Construction 15th Five-Year Plan,” laying out a systematic deployment of financial work for the 2026-2030 period. Experts said the plan emphasizes risk prevention, stronger supervision and high-quality development as its main working lines. They expect macroeconomic and financial policy to further intensify counter-cyclical adjustment, expand domestic demand and improve supply to drive sustained economic growth.

TREE NEWS update: A petition seeking a fourth postponement of South Korea’s planned tax on digital asset gains has reached the 50,000-signature threshold required for an official government response. Investors are pressing for another delay to the levy, while regulators have stood firm on the scheduled implementation. No date for the tax’s introduction was changed in the material.

TREE NEWS update: The People’s Bank of China said balances of accounts-receivable electronic vouchers across the market stood at 2.4 trillion yuan as of the end of July, down 20% from a peak of 3 trillion yuan. Cao Yuanyuan, head of the PBOC’s financial markets department, told a State Council policy briefing on September 14 that more than 200 electronic voucher service platforms operated at the peak, serving core enterprises and their upstream and downstream suppliers.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will set up a second phase of the national small and medium-sized enterprise development fund, Vice Minister Ke Jixin said on September 14 at a State Council Information Office briefing. The ministry will work with the Ministry of Finance and the People’s Bank of China on loan interest subsidies and relending programs for tech innovation and equipment upgrades to cut financing costs for small firms.

TREE NEWS update: China’s State Administration for Market Regulation will place large enterprises that fail to publicly disclose unpaid amounts owed to small and medium-sized suppliers in their annual reports on the abnormal operations list, credit supervision director Zhou Weijun said on September 14. The disclosure requirement stems from the regulation guaranteeing payments to SMEs, which mandates that contract numbers and amounts owed be filed via the national enterprise credit information system.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will guide third-party institutions in establishing a research and evaluation mechanism for automakers’ payment-term commitments, Vice Minister Ke Jixin said at a State Council Information Office briefing on Sept. 14. The ministry will conduct regular tiered assessments of payment-term performance and will summon and require rectification from companies with large accounts payable, those deliberately extending payment periods or those drawing frequent complaints.

TREE NEWS update: China’s securities regulator said more than 100 listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges had disclosed how they treat small and medium-sized enterprises equally, as of the end of April. Guo Ruiming, head of listed-company supervision at the CSRC, gave the figure at a State Council Information Office briefing on September 14 on tackling late payments to SMEs, adding that many listed firms are themselves SMEs facing payment-collection problems.

TREE NEWS update: China’s State Administration for Market Regulation said it will severely penalize large enterprises found to be using vague payment-term calculation dates or commercial bills and electronic vouchers to effectively extend payment terms for small and medium-sized suppliers. Speaking at a State Council Information Office briefing on Sept. 14, credit supervision official Zhou Weijun said the regulator will share information with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the central bank, and will use talks and mediation to push major companies with frequent SME complaints to rectify.

TREE NEWS update: The People’s Bank of China said on September 14 that companies making notable progress in reducing accounts payable and payment periods will receive facilitation for bond issuance. Cao Yuanyuan, an official at the PBOC’s financial markets department, announced the measure at a State Council policy briefing. The support is aimed at firms that have effectively shortened payment cycles and cut overdue payables.

TREE NEWS update: China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) said on the 14th that central state-owned enterprises must take the lead in paying their bills to small and medium-sized suppliers on time. Pei Renquan, an official at SASAC’s finance and operations bureau, said central SOEs will raise funds to ensure prompt cash payment, keep cash payment ratios reasonable for large firms, and are strictly barred from issuing new notes with maturities over six months.

TREE NEWS update: The 2026 National Cybersecurity Week opened on Sept. 14 in Jinan, Shandong province. At the opening ceremony, a series of cybersecurity achievements were released, including version 3.0 of the Artificial Intelligence Security Governance Framework, the 2026 test results on AI-enabled cybersecurity applications, and consumer networked camera cybersecurity labeling registration products.

TREE NEWS update: Shanghai’s financial regulator issued guidelines to boost tech finance across the city’s banking and insurance sectors, calling for insurance capital to increase contributions to local venture capital, private equity and M&A funds. The city also supports insurers setting up private equity and securities investment funds focused on strategic emerging industries and hard-tech sectors, as part of a pilot for long-term insurance investment reform.

TREE NEWS update: Shanghai’s financial regulator issued an opinion on improving tech-finance services across the city’s banking and insurance sectors, encouraging qualified institutions to build enterprise-level AI platforms. The guidance calls for applying big data, blockchain, IoT and quantum computing to product development, business decisions and risk management. The regulator said the aim is to raise the digital and intelligent operating level of tech finance.

TREE NEWS update: Shanghai’s financial regulator issued guidance to the city’s banking and insurance sectors on improving tech finance, calling for expanded supply of tech credit products. Banks are told to increase lending support for R&D and the commercialization of research results, with differentiated terms on credit limits, loan tenors, pricing and guarantee methods. Lenders may set their own methods for calculating tech firms’ working-capital needs.

TREE NEWS update: EU financial services commissioner Maria Luis Albuquerque rejected a call from banks to split the bloc’s financial reform package into two phases, saying a single unified plan is the best way to cut red tape, lower cross-border barriers and ease some regulatory requirements. Last week, heads of 11 large banks from the EU, Switzerland and the UK urged Brussels to prioritise near-term “simplification” and allow more time to debate thornier issues such as a European deposit insurance scheme.

TREE NEWS update: China’s National Medical Products Administration approved a new brain-computer interface medical device standard on the 14th, the country’s third such standard and the world’s first to use artificial intelligence to process EEG data. The standard, effective September 1 next year, sets technical requirements and test methods covering data collection, processing, labeling, storage and access across the full BCI device workflow.

TREE NEWS update: European Union official Albuquerque said AI risks are difficult to assess comprehensively and that such risks will only keep growing. Albuquerque said preparation is the best way to respond to AI. No specific policy measure or timeline was announced.