Briefly

Chinese SOEs' Jan-Nov profits surge 40%

The combined profits of China's State-owned enterprises, or SOEs, surged more than 40 percent year-on-year to over 4.14 trillion yuan ($650.50 billion) in the first 11 months of the year, official data showed on Friday. The SOEs saw their operating revenue rise more than 21 percent from a year earlier to 67.34 trillion yuan during the period, according to the Ministry of Finance.

High-speed train reaches Mt Changbai

A new high-speed railway line with designed speed of 250 km per hour reached the foot of the Changbai Mountains in Northeast China's Jilin province on Friday. At 7:35 am, a bullet train service G9127 departed from the Changchun railway station in the provincial capital Changchun for Changbaishan, or Changbai Mountains, more than 300 km away. This marked the official start of the line as well as the newly built railway station. The train takes only two hours and 18 minutes to travel the distance, and helps shorten the overall travel time between Beijing and Changbai Mountains to eight hours.

Reverse repos net 20b yuan

The People's Bank of China on Friday conducted 20 billion yuan ($3.14 billion) worth of reverse repos to maintain year-end liquidity in the banking system. While the seven-day, 2.2 percent reverse repos netted 10 billion yuan, the 14-day, 2.35 percent reverse repos pulled in another 10 billion yuan. A reverse repo is a process in which the central bank purchases securities from commercial banks through bidding, with an agreement to sell them back in the future.

Retirement planning products in focus

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said on Friday insurers should downsize financial products that are not big on retirement planning. They should also stop, or disinvest from, insurance-related asset management businesses that are irrelevant to retirement planning. Also, they should improve corporate governance, organizational frameworks, information systems, and mechanisms to prevent risk transmission, it said.

Xinhua - China Daily