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Ant Financial to create JV with CK Hutchison

As Ant Financial pushes its global drive to tap into Hong Kong’s cashless payment market, the tech giant is forming a joint venture with tycoon Li Ka-shing’s CK Hutchison Holdings (CKH) to sign up more local users.

The two companies are poised to set up a 50-50 joint venture to offer a consumer-oriented digital wallet under the AlipayHK brand. The deal is expected to be completed later this year, subject to obtaining the nod from regulators.

Neither company has disclosed the amount of their contribution to the joint venture. But market experts speculate that the parties are not disclosing the figures due to the negligible amount compared with the companies’ massive portfolios.

Ant Financial, the financial services arm of Chinese mainland e-commerce titan Alibaba Group Holding and operator of the world’s largest online payment app Alipay?entered the Hong Kong market with AlipayHK mobile wallet in May this year.

The e-payment app attracted more than 100,000 active users in the two weeks since its launch, and is now accepted at more than 4,000 leading retail brand outlets in the city.

Ant Financial’s expansion in Hong Kong is highly aligned with CKH’s line of business, which has a strong presence in retail, infrastructure, energy and telecommunications in the city. The group boasts personal care store Watsons, supermarket ParknShop and electronic store Fortress, among many other flagship companies in Hong Kong.

Ant Financial said in a statement that apart from mobile payment, Alipay’s many in-app lifestyle features and third-party insurance products are among the traits that drew the attention of CKH. Currently, Hong Kong users can easily buy travel insurance and accident insurance from mainland insurance companies such as Ping An and China Life through AlipayHK.

Martin Bao, senior analyst of ICBC International, said the partnership is a big step in Alipay’s global drive. Alipay has extended its cashless payment network in many countries but is mostly for the convenience of mainland tourists going abroad. The alliance with local partner CKH demonstrates Ant Financial’s ambition to woo local users, he said.

Currently, the most dominant cashless payment in Hong Kong is the Octopus card, a rechargeable card that is widely accepted by Hong Kong residents to pay for transportation, as well as items at convenience stores and small retailers. Yet Bao said the pre-top up mode, which requires citizens to top up the balance before paying, occupies a portion of citizens’ disposable capital, and is less convenient than Alipay’s real-time payment system.

Ant Financial, hailed as the mainland’s biggest unicorn with an estimated valuation of more than $60 billion, is considering going public in the mainland or Hong Kong.

Pay rises for new graduates

The average pay for college graduates has gone up by 7.4 percent year-on-year, according to a survey published Wednesday by China International Intellectech Corporation, a State-owned human resources company.

The survey shows the pay for college graduates this year is 4,854 yuan ($741) for graduates, 6,791 yuan for postgraduates and 9,982 yuan for PhD graduates.

The salary in first-tier cities is 5,218 yuan for graduates, 7,612 yuan for postgraduates, and 10,077 yuan for PhD graduates.

It indicates 47 percent of the employers have hired more people this year, while 21 percent cut down on their recruitment numbers.

Sixty two percent of the polled enterprises said hiring desirable employees became more difficult this year, due to excessively high expectations of graduates and low name recognition of employers.

The survey polled more than 2,800 enterprises in sectors including finance, internet and manufacturing.

A record 7.95 million graduates entered the workforce this year.

First public recruitment in Xiongan: 4,000 candidates for 23 vacancies

Xiongan Construction and Investment Group Co Ltd, a company based in the Xiongan New Area, started recruiting employees from around the country recently.

This is the first public recruitment in Xiongan New Area, according to China Economic Weekly.

The company published the employment information on the website of Chengtong, a recruitment agency, on Aug 31. And the 23 job openings attracted more than 4,000 candidates, equivalent to 1 in 179, within a week.

The positions on offer cover fields such as finance, infrastructure construction and public relations, with only 23 people to be hired by the State-owned enterprise, according to a report of China Economic Weekly on Tuesday.

Most of the jobs require five years of work experience and at least a bachelor’s degree, and the pay is similar to that of Beijing, where the average salary for employees in public sector stood at 120,000 a year ($18,000) in 2016, said the report.

Xiongan New Area, about 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing, straddles the three counties of Xiongxian, Rongcheng and Anxin in the neighboring Hebei province.

China announced the plan to build the new area in April, aiming to promote the coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei province.

Nationwide negative list to spur foreign investment

A bulk carrier freighted with goods on a pier in Lianyungang, East China

China will roll out a negative list for foreign investment, which has been tested in pilot free-trade zones.

The negative list model, which states the sectors and businesses that are off limits to foreign investment, will be adopted nationwide as early as 2018.

“Introduction of the negative list is a creative approach at home and abroad. It lays an important foundation for market to play a decisive role in resource allocation,” said Xu Shanchang, with the National Development and Reform Commission.

The approach had an initial test run in Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong and Fujian, before expanding to other places, including Zhejiang and Hubei, for further testing.

“It is rather important to be prepared before making it a nationwide practice,” Xu said.

On Aug. 16, the State Council issued a document saying that China would make its foreign investment environment “more law-based, internationalized and convenient” to promote growth and raise the quality of foreign investment.

“The country should continue to reduce market access restrictions for foreign capital,” the document said.

China will expand market access to allow foreign capital in sectors including new-energy vehicle manufacturing, ship design, aircraft maintenance and railway passenger transport, it said.

On July 28, China began to implement a revised foreign investment catalogue, which included a negative list as well as sectors and industries in which the government wants to encourage foreign companies to invest.

“Instead of trying to guide industrial adjustment, the negative list is to coordinate the relationship between government and market, aiming to improve the market’s role of regulation, make enterprises the major investment sources and lift government restrictions,” said Guo Guannan, with China Academy of Macroeconomic Research.

“The resilience and competitiveness of China’s investment management system would be enhanced by implementing a negative list,” said Gao Yuwei, a Bank of China researcher.

The negative list will help China develop an open economy and lead to comprehensive reforms to the country’s economic and social management, according to Gao.

China will introduce more fiscal and taxation support policies to encourage overseas investors to expand investment, the State Council said in August.

The country could make use of overseas investors to optimize the service trade structure.

China encourages multinationals to set up regional headquarters in the country and wants more investment in western areas and the old northeastern industrial bases.

The investment environment in national-level development zones will be improved by giving the zones more authority in investment management and raising their ability to provide industrial services, according to the State Council.

Foreigners will find it easier to get work permits as the government aims to facilitate the cross-border flow of professionals.

Before the end of the year, China will release detailed new rules for granting visas to foreign professionals, including extending the validity period, the State Council said.

Efforts should also be stepped up to improve foreign capital-related laws, provide better services to overseas investors and ensure the free outward remittance of their profits.

China will improve the protection of intellectual property rights, raise the competitiveness of the research and development environment and maintain continuity in foreign investment policies, it said.

Shanghai, HK vie for IPO lead

More companies bet on high valuations in mainland, instead of going overseas

As New York remains on track to knock Hong Kong off its pedestal to become the world’s biggest listing venue this year, the Asian financial hub is wrestling with Shanghai for the second place in the league tables.

Over the first nine months of the year, some 106 deals raised HK$85 billion ($11 billion) in Hong Kong, trailing the 105 billion yuan ($16 billion) raised in Shanghai, according to data from global accounting firm Deloitte.

“Though brokers and bankers in Hong Kong are anchoring their hopes on a sharp upturn in business to help the city overtake its mainland peer in the final quarter of 2017, I think Shanghai is likely to hold its lead and secure the second spot throughout this year,” said Edward Au, Hong Kong-based co-leader of the national public offering group at Deloitte.

The initial public offering (IPO) market in the Chinese mainland has gained huge momentum so far this year from China Securities Regulatory Commission’s efforts to step up IPO approvals, in a sign of its determination to implement IPO reform toward a registration-based system.

“As regulators keep a steady pace to give a green light to no less than 30 IPOs on a monthly basis, more and more mainland companies, betting on higher valuations back home, are relishing the idea of a flotation on the mainland, rather than having their eyes trained on overseas destinations,” Au noted.

“Though there is a logjam of roughly 500 firms still lining up to get the nod, you can see policymakers’ efforts to ease IPO process really bolster the market a lot,” he added.

If regulators could maintain the pace to give the go-ahead to IPOs in the remaining months, the Shanghai Stock Exchange, coupled with the smaller, tech-heavy Shenzhen Stock Exchange, are projected to see as many as 480 companies make their mainland stock market debut, raising up to $250 billion yuan by the year end, Deloitte said.

Following the $1 billion-plus offering from ZhongAn Online Property Casualty Insurance?the very first fintech flotation in Hong Kong?the Asian financial center, which has retained the crown as the world’s top fundraising destination for the past two years, is looking to welcome one or two more eye-catching listings from sizeable technology firms in the final three months of the year, said Dick Kay, Shanghai-based co-leader of national public offering group at Deloitte.

“Given that the enthusiasm of investors oversubscribing for ZhongAn’s offering runs really high, we have good reasons to believe the upcoming technology flotations could come as a ‘booster’, putting Hong Kong on course to secure the third spot, with as many as 150 firms raising up to HK$150 billion for the whole year round,” Kay said.

China’s e-commerce sector sees 27% surge in trade

China’s e-commerce market saw strong growth in the first half of this year, according to a report released Tuesday.

China’s e-commerce trading recorded 13.35 trillion yuan ($2.03 trillion) for the first half of 2017, a 27.1 percent increase year-on-year, China Research Center of E-Commerce said in the report.

Business-to-business transactions reached 9.8 trillion yuan, online retail sales were at 3.1 trillion yuan, and e-commerce trading for life services was about 0.45 trillion yuan.

Cross-border e-commerce reached 3.6 trillion yuan in H1, up 30.7 percent year-on-year, accounting for 26.97 percent of China’s total e-commerce trade volume, with 2.75 trillion yuan for export and 862.4 billion yuan for import.

With policy support and a relatively complete system, China’s e-commerce maintained rapid growth and as China’s economy transforms to the “consumer upgrade” era, e-commerce has created many new consumption demands, said Zhang Zhouping, senior analyst with the research center.

This has triggered a new investment boom, created more job opportunities, increased income and provided the space for mass entrepreneurship and innovation in the country, Zhang added.

As of the end of June, more than 3.1 million people worked directly in e-commerce and more than 23 million indirectly, the report revealed.

Revenue for China’s express delivery business was 257.29 billion yuan in the first half of 2017 and is expected to reach 600 billion yuan with a projected growth rate of 49.8 percent.

Nine listed companies plan offices in Xiongan

Aerial photo taken on April 1, 2017 shows Anxin county, North China’s Hebei province.

Since April 5, nine listed companies have announced plans to set up offices in Xiongan, betting on business opportunities from the construction of the Xiongan New Area, Ifeng Finance reported.

Kaidi Ecological Environmental Technology Co Ltd said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange late Thursday that the company plans to establish an office in the new area to promote the environment protection and ecological reconstruction project of Baiyangdian?a freshwater lake in Xiongan.

Eight other listed companies that announced plans to set up offices in Xiongan are Yueyang Forest & Paper Co Ltd, CRRC Corp Ltd, Shenzhen Das Intellitech Co Ltd, Hubei Huitian New Materials Co Ltd, Xuanhua Construction Machinery Co Ltd, Wuxi Taiji Industry Co Ltd, Lingyuan Iron & Steel Co Ltd and Juli Sling Co Ltd.

China announced the plan in April to create Xiongan New Area — about 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing — to promote the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Xiongan-themed stocks have rebounded recently as the planning and design of the Xiongan New Area is expected to be completed by the end of September. Stocks related to infrastructure, finance, technological innovation and real estate all showed upward momentum.

Earlier, some investment institutions also turned more bullish on shares of companies involved in environment protection, garden and architectural decoration.

Zhang Chengyuan, a senior vice-president at China Asset Management, said the demand market of raw materials including steel, cement and glass has been reflected in the construction of the Xiongan New Area.

Zhang added that there will be more investment opportunities in the scientific and technological innovation industry during the construction of the new area.

Advanced city planning, transportation, municipal services and environment protection for new urbanization will not only benefit the Xiongan New Area, but these technologies and services can also be promoted in the whole country, said Ma Tao, chief strategist of BOCOM Schroders.

Guangdong plans international expo to boost B&R cooperation

An international expo featuring trade and economic cooperation between countries and regions related to the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road will be held in late September in Guangdong province, according to the organizers.

More than 1,134 companies from 56 nations and regions will participate in the Guangdong 21st Century Maritime Silk Road International Expo, which is scheduled on September 21-24 in Dongguan, a trade and manufacturing hub in the Pearl River Delta region, according to the organizers.

The expo will highlight investment and economic cooperative opportunities along the countries and regions, as well as their cultural, construction, engineering, food and agricultural products.

Former high-ranking officials from 13 nations related to the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, as well as 22 international chamber officials have confirmed their participation in the event.

China plans wider foreign investment

China plans to open the domestic market wider to foreign investment in the financial and new energy vehicles sectors in coming months, said a spokeswoman with the nation’s economic regulator Friday.

Meng Wei of the National Development and Reform Commission, said China will open the world’s second-largest economy wider to foreign investors, stepping up efforts to attract foreign funds.

While foreign direct investment dropped a little in the first eight months compared to the same period last year, China retains strong competitiveness compared to other countries, she said.

Too few online security talents

Cybersecurity talents are in short supply in China, and many employers have no choice but to lower their requirements and recruit people with little work experience to fill the gap, a report concludes.

Posts about cybersecurity published on Zhaopin.com, a leading recruitment website, increased from January to June by 232 percent year-on-year, according to the report published by Zhaopin and 360 Internet Security Center.

Work experience was not required for half the posts. On average, the expected salary of job seekers in the field stood at 7,533 yuan ($1,160) a month.

In stark contrast, the average salary employers offer is 25 percent higher, the report found.

Zhaopin didn’t disclose the sample size for the report, calling it a business secret, but said the sample was large enough to ensure solid conclusions – the firm has 135 million users.

The difference between the low salary expectation and high offer suggests the supply of candidates is inadequate to meet the demand in the labor market for cybersecurity talents, said Wang Yixin, a senior Zhaopin consultant.

There are more than enough low-skilled candidates for basic posts, but the demand for the highskilled candidates exceeds the supply, she said.

Only 11 percent of cybersecurity job seekers have an education background in cybersecurity or information security – more majored in computer science, communication and information engineering and network engineering.

More than 70 percent of the job hunters are aged 25 to 34.

The shortage of cybersecurity talents will continue in China for some time, the report said.

Zhao Zeliang, director of the Cybersecurity Coordination Bureau at China’s Cyberspace Administration, said cybersecurity talent education is urgent and important in the country.

“We can catch up with Western countries’ pace of cybersecurity protection by buying their advanced technologies or products, but if we are short of talents, our following generations will be affected,” he said.

He also said the administration has paid high attention to and taken measures in education for talents, considering its importance in cybersecurity protection.

Now the administration has joined hands with the Ministry of Education to set up an academic institute to cultivate cybersecurity talents, “hoping to improve our capabilities in cybersecurity protection and make our talents more competitive in the world,” he said.