China Puts Limits on Foreign Banks, Worrying Businesses
New rules, aimed at taming big money flows and possibly controlling the Chinese currency, could give domestic rivals a competitive edge and make international firms more dependent on local lenders.
The People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, issued the new rules on foreign banks.Credit.Wu Hong/EPA, via Shutterstock
April 2, 2021, 5:21 a.m. ET
SHANGHAI To defend against accusations by Washington and others that it doesn’t play fair on trade, Beijing could point to the banks. Chinese leaders have been steadily lowering the barriers they had erected around the country’s vast financial system, giving Wall Street and European lenders a greater shot at winning business in the world’s second-largest economy.