IN BRIEF (Page 14)

Employment

Foreign banks to boost hiring

HSBC Holdings PLC, Citigroup Inc and other foreign lenders plan to hire nearly 56 percent more employees in China by 2015 to maintain growth, according to a survey by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

The lenders aim to boost employee numbers to more than 55,000 from the present 35,000 in line with annual revenue growth of over 20 percent during the period, PwC said, citing a survey of chief executive officers, senior executives and branch managers at 41 foreign lenders. Priority positions will be in corporate banking, risk management, treasury and compliance, the survey said.

Property

Home prices rebound in June

Home prices in major Chinese cities rose in June as the property sector showed signs of warming after the recent government moves to stimulate the economy, according to information provided by the National Bureau of Statistics.

New home prices in 25 cities out of the statistical pool of 70 major cities recorded monthly growth in June, compared with just six cities in May, the bureau said. The price increases in the 25 cities were all less than 0.6 percent.

Twenty-one cities saw drops in new home prices last month, down from 43 in May, while prices in 24 cities remained flat.

Finance

Insurance premiums rise 5.9% in H1

Premiums for China's insurance companies hit 853.23 billion yuan ($135.4 billion, 109 billion euros) in the first half of the year, up 5.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the China Insurance Regulatory Commission.

The growth was 1 percentage point higher than that of the first quarter, the commission said, adding that the insurance market is gradually stabilizing.

As of the end of June, the total assets of the nation's insurers came in at 6.78 trillion yuan, an increase of 13.3 percent from the beginning of the year.

Aviation

Aircraft leasing company to expand

China Aircraft Leasing Co Ltd has inked a deal with Airbus SAS for 36 A320 aircraft at the recent Farnborough International Airshow in the United Kingdom, Airbus said.

The aircraft leasing company has a fleet of 16 planes, including 11 Airbus aircraft. It plans to have at least 100 aircraft in its fleet by 2015, said Poon Ho-man, founder and CEO of the company.

The company is waiting for another eight Airbus aircraft to be delivered.

When the order is complete, it will have 50 Airbus aircraft. According to the list price of the planes on order, the transaction is worth more than $3.1 billion (2.53 billion euros).

Energy

Shell eyes shale gas projects

Global energy giant Royal Dutch Shell PLC is eager to participate in China's unconventional gas exploitation projects, especially shale gas, Lim Haw-kuang, executive chairman of Shell China Group, said in Shanghai.

"I am anxiously waiting for the second shale gas tender," he said, adding that Shell is willing to cooperate with the Chinese companies that win the tender.

The Ministry of Land and Resources will open a second public tender for the sale of shale gas prospecting rights later this year, in a bid to feed the country's increasing energy appetite. Media and industry insiders expect the bidding process to start as early as late July.

US firms may join CNOOC oil plans

Some US companies are likely to participate in the co-development of nine blocks of oil and gas fields in the South China Sea, offshore oil explorer China National Offshore Oil Corp said.

"US companies are displaying interest in bidding for the oil and gas projects, which have been progressing as scheduled," CNOOC Chairman Wang Yilin said on the sidelines of the China-US Enterprises Investment and Cooperation Forum.

CNOOC, China's third largest oil company, last month issued tenders seeking joint exploitation of nine offshore blocks in the South China Sea. The nine blocks cover more than 160,000 square kilometers and are 300-4,000 meters deep, according to a statement on CNOOC's website.

Tech

Dell upbeat on China prospects

Personal computer maker Dell Inc remains confident of growth in emerging markets like China, despite the challenges and a business slowdown, Chief Executive Officer Michael Dell said.

China, which accounts for about $5 billion of Dell's annual revenue, has for years picked up the slack as personal computer spending waned in developed markets.

"We are bullish on markets like China, India and Brazil," Dell said. The company's founder added that it could also count on Africa, which accounts for $1 billion in annual revenue that is expected to grow exponentially.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily 07/20/2012 page14)