Northeast Asia

Each week, Keeping Tabs brings you the very best of what we have found most useful, interesting and informative from around the web. This week: what’s next for the US after its war on Huawei, the impact that more robots would have on the gender pay gap, and a look on the bright side of Europe’s mishmash of state guarantee schemes.

In this round-up, China’s GDP growth for the second quarter beats expectations by a large margin, the banking and insurance regulator asks financial institutions to step up efforts to eliminate the shadow banking sector, and a green-dedicated national fund is up and running in Shanghai.

In this round-up, the UK bars Huawei Technologies from its 5G mobile network, the Chinese foreign ministry retaliates against recent US sanctions, and Donald Trump signs an executive order that ends Hong Kong’s preferential trade treatment.

China has introduced a primary legal framework to tackle bond defaults, bringing together separate guidelines that had been in place for each of its three debt markets. While the move simplifies things for bondholders, there are still a number of unanswered questions, said bankers.

China’s onshore bond market has experienced huge selling pressure over the last few months, leading to a sharp rise in domestic yields. But bankers say not all issuers are willing to accept “the new reality”.

Chinese property company Agile Group Holdings has launched a HK$3.242bn ($418m) refinancing loan into syndication.

Chinese real estate developer Redsun Properties Group came to the bond market for the second time this year on Thursday, raking in $155m from a tap of its 2023 deal.

Hong Kong’s stock exchange has appointed two legal and consulting veterans to senior positions in its IPO vetting unit and a new compliance team.

A trio of SSA borrowers hit the market for dollar paper this week, testing the waters across the curve and finding investors receptive. Although the top tier names are mostly well funded, demand is still hot for the extra yield offered by the second layer of SSA borrowers.

Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations issued its yearly Samurai bond on Thursday, raising ¥20bn ($190m) with a dual tranche.

Chinese food and beverage company Bright Food sold a euro-denominated bond via its Singapore arm on Wednesday, raising €800m. It leaned on Chinese bank support to price the deal at a tighter level than where European investors were willing to buy.

Jiumaojiu International Holdings bagged HK$839.3m ($108.3m) from a top-up share placement on Wednesday, with a group of employees also pulling off a concurrent block trade.