Flash News

TREE NEWS update: The People’s Bank of China and multiple government departments issued guidance to build international sci-tech innovation centers in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta and the Greater Bay Area. The plan calls for accelerating STAR Market reforms and improving the listing mechanism for technology companies. It also targets integrated tech-finance services across the Yangtze River Delta, including the G60 sci-tech corridor and cross-regional recognition of tech-finance standards.

TREE NEWS update: The People’s Bank of China and other departments issued guidance to support international sci-tech innovation centers in Beijing, Shanghai and the Greater Bay Area, including measures to optimize domestic banks’ offshore lending management and widen overseas financing channels for domestic tech companies. The document also calls for pilot facilitation of cross-border trade and investment for tech firms, streamlined cross-border settlement for service trade, and support for opening domestic foreign-exchange accounts for overseas R&D centers and innovation platforms.

TREE NEWS update: The People’s Bank of China and several government departments issued guidelines on financial support for building international sci-tech innovation centers in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta and the Greater Bay Area. The guidance calls for supporting the development of M&A funds, improving regional M&A financial services and removing bottlenecks in deal execution. It also backs international-level venture capital centers and patient capital investment in emerging and future industries.

TREE NEWS update: The People’s Bank of China and multiple government departments issued guidance on financial support for building international science and technology innovation centers in Beijing (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei), Shanghai (Yangtze River Delta), and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The guidance sets region-specific financial service priorities and calls for coordinated policy, mutual recognition of standards, information sharing, and risk prevention mechanisms across the three regions. The PBOC said it will work with relevant departments to ensure implementation.

TREE NEWS update: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video on the 18th that if he wins the parliamentary election, Israel will continue cooperating with the United States and aims to “completely eliminate the threat posed by Iran” within two years or sooner. Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi responded on social media, saying Iran grew stronger after Netanyahu’s last attempt and warning that Netanyahu is dragging the U.S. into another war.

TREE NEWS update: UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said on October 19 that companies and individuals involved in Israel’s tender for the E1 settlement project in the occupied West Bank could face legal and reputational risks and may become targets of British sanctions. The statement warns businesses against participating in the construction tender.

TREE NEWS update: South Africa’s Department of Health reported four new confirmed mpox cases, bringing the country’s laboratory-confirmed total to 26 this year. Of the 26 cases, 25 are male, with patients aged between 23 and 50, the department said.

TREE NEWS update: CME Group said it will launch tungsten futures in the first quarter of 2027, adding the industrial metal to its commodities lineup. The exchange operator did not disclose contract specifications or a precise listing date in the announcement. Tungsten is used in aerospace, defense and manufacturing, and the contract would give hedgers a listed tool for price risk.

TREE NEWS update: Germany’s inflation risks are clearly skewed to the upside, the Bundesbank said. The central bank’s assessment points to persistent price pressures in Europe’s largest economy, a signal markets read as reducing the case for near-term rate cuts.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on the 19th it will deepen its “AI plus manufacturing” special initiative, stepping up efforts to develop the AI industry and empower manufacturing so as to help upgrade goods consumption. The remarks came at a State Council Information Office press conference on the government’s guidelines for accelerating technology-driven commerce, attended by officials from the commerce, industry and tourism ministries.

TREE NEWS reports: The French 10-year government bond yield climbed further on the day, rising 10 basis points to 4.89%. The move marks an extension of the yield’s upward trend, with the benchmark rate now standing at 4.89%.

TREE NEWS reports: Stablecoin growth slowed after banks raised deposit rates, with USDC the most exposed, according to a working paper by two economists using six years of weekly U.S. data. The authors cautioned that their evidence covers a single high-rate period.

TREE NEWS update: People’s Bank of China deputy governor and State Administration of Foreign Exchange head Zhu Hexin said on October 19 at the 2026 Financial Street Forum that China will push forward with opening its foreign exchange market and expand the pilot program allowing securities firms to conduct FX settlement and sales. Zhu also said authorities will support financial institutions in helping companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, manage currency risk and improve cross-border service capacity.

TREE NEWS update: Zhu Hexin, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China and head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said SAFE will keep strengthening cross-border capital flow monitoring and macroprudential management and crack down on illegal cross-border financial activity, speaking at the opening of the 2026 Financial Street Forum. The aim is to keep the foreign exchange market stable and ensure the safety, liquidity and preservation of foreign exchange reserve assets.

TREE NEWS update: People’s Bank of China Deputy Governor and State Administration of Foreign Exchange Administrator Zhu Hexin said on Oct. 19 that SAFE is rolling out a package of policies to optimize capital account foreign exchange management, aimed at better meeting companies’ cross-border investment, financing and fund allocation needs and supporting both inbound and outbound investment. Zhu made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Financial Street Forum annual meeting.

TREE NEWS update: Zhu Hexin, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China and head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said on October 19 at the opening of the 2026 Financial Street Forum that SAFE plans to launch a batch of incremental measures. These include a package to facilitate current-account transactions for foreign-trade firms, a package to optimize capital-account FX management for cross-border financing and investment, and expanded FX market opening, including a pilot broadening securities firms’ FX settlement and sales business.

TREE NEWS update: China’s National Financial Regulatory Administration will strengthen penetrative supervision of large investment credits and other business, its director Ding Xiangqun said on Oct. 19 at the opening of the 2026 Financial Street Forum in Beijing. Ding said the regulator will prioritize substance over form, regulate shareholder behavior and executive performance, and improve monitoring and early-warning mechanisms. It will also accelerate digital and intelligent transformation of its supervisory toolkit.

TREE NEWS update: China’s National Financial Regulatory Administration will step up efforts to regulate market order, its director Ding Xiangqun said on October 19 at the 2026 Financial Street Forum in Beijing. Ding said institutions must abandon their fixation on scale and that regulators will crack down on non-compliant marketing and financial black and gray industries, drawing clearer red lines for competition.

TREE NEWS update: China’s National Healthcare Security Administration has upgraded its medical insurance wallet to version 2.0, with all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps running the new system since Oct. 16. The upgrade allows employees’ medical insurance personal account funds to be shared with close relatives across provincial borders, expanding the scope of mutual assistance nationwide.

TREE NEWS update: China Securities Regulatory Commission Chairman Wu Qing said on Oct. 19 that the regulator supports accelerating the rollout of capital-market fintech pilot cases in Beijing’s Haidian district and the establishment of a Beijing Capital Market Society. Speaking at the opening of the 2026 Financial Street Forum, Wu said the move aims to strengthen the clustering of market participants, institutions and talent and to raise the development level of Beijing’s capital market.