In the News: Gene Editing; Peer-to-Peer Lending; and SME Loans
March 04, 2019 | BY
Marilyn RomeroChina's State Council will soon be regulating gene editing and biotechnologies; in a major sting on illegal P2P lenders, Chinese authorities netted Rmb10 billion in assets and arrested 62 people from 16 countries; and Chinese regulators increase the pressure on banks to boost lending to SMEs.
Gene editing technologies soon to be regulated by State Council
Gene editing technologies and other potentially risky new biomedical technologies could soon be placed under the supervision of China's State Council, according to a proposed regulation published on February 26 on the National Health Commission's website. The guidelines require clinical trials involving gene-editing and other experimental life science technologies to be classified as high or low risk, and approval to be obtained from government authorities before proceeding.
The draft rule followed an international outcry caused by Chinese scientist He Jiankui, who claimed in November 2018 that he had altered the DNA of newly born twin girls using a technology called CRISPR-cas9. Under the proposed new rule, researchers and hospitals found to have flouted the rules could be subject to penalties such as a lifetime ban on research work, revoking of business licenses and criminal investigations.
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China's P2P crackdown leads to freezing of $1.5B in assets
China's Ministry of Public Security said authorities have frozen about Rmb10 billion, or $1.5 billion, in assets, and arrested 62 people from 16 countries and regions, including Thailand and Cambodia, as part of the country's global crackdown against illegal peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms.
Chinese authorities have investigated more than 380 P2P platforms following a wave of defaults that hit the sector in 2018. The defaults wiped out billions of dollars of clients' money. The operation, dubbed 'Fox Hunt', drove more than 100 actual controllers or senior executives of P2P platforms into hiding, with some confirmed to have fled abroad.
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CBIRC ups pressure on state banks to lend more to SMEs
The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) said it has ordered state-owned banks to increase lending to small and micro firms by at least 30 percent this year, and to cut back on their onerous collateral requirements.
Specifically, the CBIRC wants to increase the number of bank loans of Rmb10 million, or $1.5 million, or less. In 2018, the growth rate of loans in this bracket exceeded 21 percent. Banks have also been warned against giving preferential treatment to state-owned enterprises.
Stricter supervision and evaluations will also be adopted to ensure that loans to private companies take up a larger share of all new lending to businesses, and that financing costs are kept at a reasonable level. Commercial banks will be monitored quarterly for compliance with the order, and are given until March to come up with their annual targets on financing private companies.
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