Flash News

TREE NEWS update: China’s National Financial Regulatory Administration will push forward risk prevention, tighter supervision and high-quality development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Vice Minister Cong Lin said on September 10 at a State Council Information Office briefing. The regulator pledged to defuse risks at small and medium-sized local financial institutions and keep them from blowing up, while strengthening its “five major” supervisory functions.

TREE NEWS update: People’s Bank of China Deputy Governor Lu Lei said on September 10 that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period the central bank will comprehensively strengthen the foundations of its mandate, continue optimizing financial infrastructure and the central bank service system, and improve financial statistics, payment, treasury and cash service systems. Lu made the remarks at a State Council Information Office press conference.

TREE NEWS update: People’s Bank of China Deputy Governor Lu Lei said on September 10 at a State Council Information Office press conference that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China will promote high-level financial opening. The PBOC will advance renminbi internationalization, strengthen cross-border connectivity of financial infrastructure, develop an offshore renminbi market and enrich the supply of offshore renminbi liquidity.

TREE NEWS update: The People’s Bank of China released its 15th Five-Year Plan for building a financial powerhouse, Vice Governor Lu Lei said at a State Council Information Office briefing on September 10. The plan sets a 2030 goal of effective policy coordination and precise risk control, and aims by 2035 to basically complete a modern Chinese financial system that is highly adaptive, competitive and inclusive.

TREE NEWS update: People’s Bank of China Deputy Governor Lu Lei said on September 10 that the 15th Five-Year Plan for Building a Financial Powerhouse has been formally issued. Speaking at a State Council Information Office press conference in Beijing, Lu said the central bank has issued its own PBOC 15th Five-Year Reform and Development Plan along with nine supporting action plans for related fields.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Commerce said it has asked several French companies operating in the country to explain subsidies they received from the EU and member states, which may have been passed through to their China entities. Spokesperson Huang Ling told a regular briefing on the 10th that the ministry acted in accordance with the law to assess the impact, responding to questions about its recent meetings with the firms.

TREE NEWS update: Chongqing’s draft action plan for developing the token economy in 2026-2028 was released for public comment, proposing that financial institutions explore new models including “compute banks” and “token coupons plus token loans.” The plan also calls for innovating real estate investment trust models in data infrastructure and encouraging financial products tied to computing infrastructure, high-value token datasets, agent clusters and application pilots.

TREE NEWS reports: India will push BRICS members to expand the use of central bank digital currencies for cross-border payments but will not back a unified payment network that could be seen as challenging the dollar, people familiar with the matter said. As this year’s BRICS chair, India and Prime Minister Modi favor settling bilateral trade between member states in CBDCs. A single BRICS payment settlement system is unlikely to be agreed at this weekend’s leaders’ summit in New Delhi.

TREE NEWS reports: The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether Nvidia’s $20 billion licensing deal with AI chip startup Groq was deliberately structured to evade antitrust review. The probe examines whether the transaction’s design sidestepped regulatory scrutiny that a conventional acquisition would have triggered.

TREE NEWS update: The US sanctioned the Xinbi scam marketplace and restrained $52 million in cryptocurrency, with the Justice Department seizing its Telegram channels and two wallets. Investigators are pursuing 47 additional wallets across Xinbi’s alleged laundering network. The action targets a platform allegedly used to launder proceeds from online fraud.

TREE NEWS update: The International Alliance Against Telecom and Online Fraud was formally established on September 10 at a founding conference in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province. Representatives from 46 founding countries, 34 observer countries and four international organizations including the United Nations and Interpol issued a joint statement on the alliance’s creation. The statement said telecom and online fraud is becoming a global scourge and called for a more focused, professional and action-oriented intergovernmental body based on international conventions.

TREE NEWS update: China’s National Development and Reform Commission held a high-level roundtable in Beijing on September 10 with US multinational companies operating in China, themed “Embracing the 15th Five-Year Plan, Seeking New Development.” More than 60 companies attended, including Amazon Cloud, Nvidia, Dell and Honeywell (China), spanning tech and computing, industrial energy, and consumer and pharma sectors. NDRC departments briefed attendees on policy considerations for the 15th Five-Year Plan, foreign investment policy, equipment upgrade and consumer trade-in programs, and consumption-boosting measures.

TREE NEWS update: Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi on the 9th criticized a resolution on Iran’s nuclear program approved the same day by the IAEA Board of Governors, which was pushed by the UK, France and Germany and calls for referring the matter to the UN Security Council. In a social media post, Gharibabadi said the move cannot compensate for the failures of certain countries’ policies and actions, nor achieve any result at the Security Council.

TREE NEWS update: China’s securities regulator issued guidelines in late August supporting listed property developers in raising funds via targeted share placements and using targeted convertible bonds to acquire property assets. Industry insiders say these bonds, offering debt-floor protection with equity upside, may see broader application in real estate M&A. Twelve such bonds have been disclosed this year, up from last year, signaling expansion capacity.

TREE NEWS update: The US Treasury’s OFAC designated Xinbi Guarantee, a Chinese-language scam marketplace that absorbed Huione’s customers after US regulators shut that network out, while the Justice Department seized its infrastructure. The $24 billion platform’s operators had already told users they were leaving tether for a rival stablecoin that is harder to freeze.

TREE NEWS update: The U.S. Department of Transportation under President Trump has established a new space working group. The move aims to coordinate space-related transportation policies and regulations. Details on the group’s mandate and leadership were not disclosed.

TREE NEWS update: Former Fed chair and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, joined by nearly 50 economists, told an appeals court that President Trump improperly used the “balance of payments” provision to justify a round of global tariffs earlier this year. The economists argued that accepting the administration’s argument would grant the president excessive power.

TREE NEWS update: Stablecoin issuer Circle has agreed to acquire Singapore-based payment infrastructure firm Tazapay in an all-stock deal valued at $400 million. The transaction, expected to close in 2027, requires regulatory approvals including from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Tazapay processes over $25 billion in annualized payments across 100+ markets, with about 60% of transactions involving stablecoins. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said the combination of USDC, Tazapay’s banking network, and institutional client base will drive global adoption.

TREE NEWS update: At the IAEA Board of Governors meeting on Sept 9, China’s envoy Li Song said US and Israeli military strikes on Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities since June last year have severely hampered Iran’s safeguards cooperation with the IAEA and dealt a heavy blow to the NPT regime. He stressed that political confrontation in the board cannot resolve the issue, and forcing through resolutions or referring it to the Security Council is a dead end.