The week in review: Meituan hit with $534m antitrust fine

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The week in review: Meituan hit with $534m antitrust fine

Food delivery_575px_adobe_11Oct21

This round-up focuses on Beijing’s move to penalise food delivery company Meituan

Chinese vice premier Liu He asked the US to lift tariffs and sanctions at a virtual meeting on Saturday morning Beijing time with the US’s trade representative Katherine Tai, according to state media Xinhua.

The two officials reviewed the implementation of the US-China Economic and Trade Agreement and “agreed that the two sides would consult on certain outstanding issues”, according to a statement by the Office of the US Trade Representative. They also “acknowledged the importance of the bilateral trade relationship and the impact that it has not only on the United States and China but also the global economy”.

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The Chinese central bank will co-operate with antitrust regulators to curb monopolies by financial technology companies, and actively deal with new forms of monopolistic behaviour such as algorithm discrimination, governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), Yi Gang, said during a speech at a Thursday conference by the Bank for International Settlements. The content of his speech was published on the PBoC’s website on Saturday.

Yi also said China will continue to regulate financial holding companies, improve related regulations, and make sure financial businesses, like personal credit businesses, are licensed.

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The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is taking public feedback until October 14 for the 2021 negative list for market access.

The list comprises industries and sectors where investment is prohibited or restricted. It will be shortened to 117 items, versus 123 in the 2020 negative list, the NDRC said. Cryptocurrency mining has been added to the new list.

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Emerging markets saw portfolio flows of $29.8bn in September versus $4.3bn in August, according to a report from the Institute of International Finance last week.

Debt flows stood at $26.2bn last month. Of the $3.6bn equity flows, there were $1.4bn in inflows to China equity, down from August’s $3.8bn.

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Vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) Fang Xinghai held a video call with Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol, who heads Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission, on September 28, according to an announcement from the Chinese regulator.

They agreed on issues including strengthening communication and co-operation between the two regulators, as well as supporting co-operation between the countries’ capital markets, said the announcement.

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The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) has fined Chinese food delivery giant Meituan Rmb3.44bn ($534m), more than five months after it launched an antitrust investigation into the company. The amount equals 3% of Meituan’s domestic sales revenue in 2020.

Meituan was punished for alleged monopolistic practice of “choose one from two” — the same violation for which Alibaba Group Holding was fined a record Rmb18.23bn earlier this year — in the domestic online food delivery services market. It allegedly forced its merchants to use its platform exclusively, and was ordered to return Rmb1.29bn in deposits it took from merchants as a guarantee for the exclusivity agreements they signed.

The company said in a statement that it will comply with the SAMR’s decisions and conduct self-examination and rectification, vowing to put an end to “choose one from two”.

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Six executives that made early redemptions on China Evergrande Group’s wealth management products have returned the funds in full, the company said in a Saturday statement on its website. Evergrande added it has punished the executives involved, without providing any details.

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Hong Kong-listed oil major Cnooc has hired Citic Securities to help it go through the pre-IPO education or tutorial process for a Shanghai mainboard listing, according to an update from the CSRC.

The Hong Kong-listed company said in a filing on September 26 that it plans to raise Rmb35bn from the sale of 2.6bn renminbi-denominated A-shares, , mainly to fund the development of eight oil and gas fields in China and overseas.

Separately, Cnooc said in a Sunday filing in Hong Kong that its American depositary receipts will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange, despite a written request from the company in March for a review of the delisting decision by the US bourse earlier this year.

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China Merchants Securities’ president and chief information officer Xiong Jiantao has resigned from all his positions to “focus on other personal affairs”, the securities company said in a filing last Friday.

Xiong was also an executive director at the firm. China Merchants added there is no disagreement between Xiong and the company, and that its operations remain normal. Its chairman Huo Da will act as president.

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