Top news of the week:

• China warns against the metaverse with stricter supervision on virtual assets

  February 21, 2022

  On February 18, China’s top banking and insurance regulator issued the first regulatory instruction in the field of metaverse. The notice called for warning against the risks involved in the metaverse, including fabricating false projects, metaverse-based virtual currency and more. The virtual reality industry integration and underlying support technologies are the main directions of policy support, while supervision requirements for virtual assets are expected to strengthen.

• China plans to develop national ageing programs and elderly service systems

  February 22, 2022

  The State Council has issued the “planning for the development of national ageing programs and elderly service systems during the ’14th Five-Year Plan’ period”, proposing the planning and layout of about ten high-level silver economy industrial parks in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and other regions. The central government encourages the expansion of supply of elderly services and the development of related industrial clusters. Market expects the new policy will bring more long-term funds to the silver economy.

• Central government issues guideline on rural revitalization

  February 23, 2022

  On February 22, China’s central government released its No. 1 Document of 2022 targeting on agriculture and rural area works. The Document is composed of eight parts: ensuring food production and the supply of important agricultural products, strengthening the fundamental support of modern agriculture, defending the bottom line and preventing a large-scale of reoccurrence of poverty, focusing on the industries to promote rural development, promoting rural construction and governance, increasing policy protection and institutional innovation, and strengthening the Party’s overall leadership.

• Companies, auto manufacturers, and institutions focusing on EV parts investment

  February 24, 2022

  Listed companies, auto manufacturers, start-ups and institutions are quietly stepping up their efforts to develop auto parts as the next new focus for investment in the auto industry. For example, Innovation, a LiDAR hardware supplier of NIO, quickly completed a US$66 million Series B+ financing round joined by Guotai Junan International Private Equity Fund, Shunwei Capital and other institutions in August 2021, after announcing in May 2021 that it had secured a US$64 million series B financing. Market analysts expect the auto parts sector in China may become a trillion-yuan market in the near future.
• MOFCOM to optimize the environment for RMB cross-border trade settlement

  February 25, 2022

  Gao Feng, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), said on 24 February that MOFCOM next will continue working with relevant departments to further promote financial institutions to enrich and improve hedging practices, while optimizing the environment for RMB cross-border trade settlement to help enterprises better adapt to the normality of bi-directional volatility in the RMB exchange rate, and constantly improve the anti-risk ability of enterprises.