China
Lagarde downplays odds of early exit
ECB president uses interviews to say she is on a ‘mission’ with a ‘baseline’ of serving out her term
BoK and BI’s QR payments link to come online in April
South Korea and Indonesia also renew $7.3bn currency swap agreement for five years
EU cannot fully disconnect from US, say Nagel and Kocher
German and Austrian governors say bloc can take steps to gain more sovereignty
US stock crash would be ‘felt across the world’ – BdF deputy
Current account imbalances cannot be solved unilaterally, argues Bénassy-Quéré
EU should ‘roll up its sleeves’ against China and US – BdF head
Villeroy de Galhau says Europe has ‘many cards to play’ in geopolitical game
China could trigger Treasuries selloff to punish US – paper
Beijing might sustain short-term self-harm to undermine US assets’ safe haven reputation, authors say
HKMA to double renminbi funding quota
Measure comes as Hong Kong announces collaboration with mainland over city’s gold trading system
Don’t count on central banks to buy public debt, says Lagarde
ECB president tells Davos panel that divergent global standards may puncture AI bubble
Legal threat to Fed accelerates Asean+3 contingency planning
AMRO chief economist says central bank independence of paramount importance for stability
China leaves benchmark lending rates unchanged
One-year LPR stays at 3% and five-year rate remains at 3.5% following easing via structural tools
India proposes linking Brics countries’ CBDCs
Bloc, which has already committed to improving payments interoperability, faces geopolitical challenges
CBDC or tokenised reserves?
Sayuri Shirai explains why central banks are taking different paths towards the same goal
Trade fragmentation still favours west over east – BdF study
Authors says US-led bloc better placed to win over neutral states than China-aligned grouping
China’s interest-bearing CBDC a world first, experts say
E-CNY now more integrated with commercial banking, thus solidifying country’s two-tier system
China cuts lending rate for some sectors and flags room for more
PBoC deputy announces 25bp cuts to lending rate for agriculture sector, small businesses and others
People: HKMA extends deputy chief executive’s term
Plus new appointments in the Philippines, New Zealand and Vietnam
China launches ‘credit repair’ scheme to boost lending
Overdue personal debt of up to 10,000 yuan to be removed from database if debtor repays by March
DBS becomes Singapore’s second RMB clearing bank
PBoC and MAS agree to deepen collaboration on securities, e-CNY and other areas
China to continue ‘moderately loose’ monetary policy in 2026
PBoC plans to work with other agencies in effort to boost consumption
IMF opens third China office in Shanghai
Institution and PBoC say new hub will conduct research into Asia-Pacific’s emerging economies
IIF says China’s CBDC irrelevant to renminbi internationalisation
Economists say yuan’s use for payments growing, though it remains “stagnant” as reserve currency