February 2021

01Feb

China to Widen Fight Against Monopolies to the Giant Gig Economy

China pledged to deepen antitrust enforcement across emergent sectors including on-demand internet services, broadening a campaign to rein in the growing power of private firms. China “resolutely” opposes monopolies and unfair competition and will step up regulation in sectors such as platform businesses, according to a plan released by the general offices of the powerful Communist Party Central Committee and the State Council, the cabinet. Contained within a broad set of guidelines intended to enforce “high standards” in Chinese finance and markets, the...

February 1, 2021
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January 2021

19Jan

China:Pension system reform seen as imperative

The structural reform of China's pension system is imperative, and the country's aging population will be propelling an increase in demand for pension funds to be allocated to investments with sustainable returns and alternative solutions that provide long-term benefits, according to Ms Dong Mei, a partner and the head of Aged Care in KPMG China. In an article for China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily, she points to several overarching trends affecting the development of China's...

January 19, 2021
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18Jan

China’s plan to ease the pension pressure

China's pension system has been continuously developed since its launch in 1951, with a focus mainly on public pensions. Through seven decades of development, China has made impressive strides in retirement payments, with a public pension coverage of almost 960 million people in 2019. However, the size of the pension in China is still relatively small, mainly due to a lack of a private pensions system that encompasses enterprise annuities, occupational annuities, and pensions for individuals. As it faces...

January 18, 2021
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15Jan

China’s demographic time bomb quickly ticking down

China’s declining demographics are gloomier than previously estimated, a life and death challenge for the world’s second-largest economy policymakers have so far failed to address. Preliminary provincial findings of a nationwide census now underway indicate that population growth in 2019 plunged to a 60-year low, despite Beijing’s move in 2016 to abandon its notorious “one-child” policy. The 14.65 million newborns recorded across China last year were a third lower than the annual average throughout the 1990s and 2000s...

January 15, 2021
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08Jan

China Pensions Outlook

By KPMG Welcome to KPMG’s fourth annual report tracking developments in China’s pension industry. China’s ageing demographics and the consequent challenges continued to draw attention during 2019 and triggered a number of fundamental changes. This report updates and builds on our research in China’s pension industry. In the report, we analyse why Pillar One will continue to be the most important and fastest- developing sector of the pension system in China. We also offer our view on what supporting...

January 8, 2021
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04Jan

China faces its biggest transformation to date

An ageing population, overreliance on investment and the shifting geopolitical landscape are key challenges as the Asian giant shifts gears, says David Dollar. China’s well-known story of spectacular growth, at around 10 per cent annually for 40 years, is coming to an end because of both domestic and global factors. In analysing China’s prospects for the next several decades, three particular challenges are striking: The shift from a labour-surplus to a labour-scarce society; the shift from investment to innovation as the...

January 4, 2021
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December 2020

31Dec

China orders Alibaba founder Jack Ma to pare down fintech empire

By Rupert Neate China has escalated its campaign to rein in the vast tech empire controlled by Jack Ma, the co-founder of Alibaba and one of the country’s richest people. Authorities in Beijing, who had on Christmas Eve ordered an investigation into allegations of “monopolistic practices” by Ma’s online retail giant, have now ordered his financial technology company Ant Group to scale back its operations. Pan Gongsheng, a deputy governor of China’s central bank, said Ant’s corporate governance was “not...

December 31, 2020
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10Dec

Aging China Must Work Longer and Invest Smarter

China is getting older. That means the Chinese people will have to work longer. But deeper reforms will also be necessary to ensure income growth doesn’t stagnate. Read also Asset management CEO arrested in Taiwan pension fund scandal The world’s most populous country has begun aging rapidly over the past decade, but the pace is going to pick up even more as tens of millions reach retirement age. The working population—people between the ages of 15 and 59—will drop by...

December 10, 2020
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01Dec

China’s Regulators Vow ‘Special’ Oversight of Fintech Giants

China plans to impose “special and innovative regulatory measures” on financial technology behemoths such as Jack Ma’s Ant Group Co. to eliminate monopolistic practices and strengthen risk controls. Advances in technology have brought tremendous change to the financial sector, Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and Party Secretary of the central bank, wrote in an article outlining regulations over the next five years. It was cited in the official Shanghai Securities News. Financial innovations...

December 1, 2020
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November 2020

30Nov

China’s plans to hike retirement age from 60 fuels public discontent

China is making a new push to raise one of the world’s lowest retirement ages as it tries to cope with a rapidly aging population, a move that’s already fueling public discontent and will test the Communist Party’s ability to implement reforms. The ruling party alluded to the change earlier this month when it released an outline of its five-year economic plan, which included a recommendation to “implement postponing the retirement age.” Specific measures in the plan are due...

November 30, 2020
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