IN BRIEF (Page 24)

Chinese company saves 4 elephants in Tanzania

The Chinese construction company Sinohydro sent engineers and a bulldozer to Rungwa Game Reserve in central Tanzania to try to free five wild elephants from a pit. Four, including two baby elephants, were saved, but one adult elephant died from dehydration, Liang Jifeng, of the Tanzanian Department of Sinohydro Bureau 13, confirmed to Xinhua on Sept 30. Manyoni natives of the Singida region rushed to the Sinohydro employers' working base, which is around 40 km from the reserve, and urged them to help the trapped elephants. More than an hour later, the Chinese rescue team arrived at the site and began to carry out their rescue plan with the permission of local governors and the operators of the reserve. After five hours' work, a female elephant and her baby were the first to walk out of the pit.

Kesko to launch online store in China

Finnish food retailer Kesko Group announced on Sept 29 that it was going to open an online store in China. Kesko, one of the largest food retailers in Finland, said the online store will bring Finnish food brands to the growing market in China. Consumers in China will be able to order products online from Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba. Finnish coffee firm Paulig, chocolate giant Fazer and berry merchant Kiantama are involved. "The delivery of food to China has already begun," said the group, adding that the product range will expand to include more Finnish food brands in the next few months. "China is the world's largest and most advanced e-commerce food market, from which we will learn lessons," Mikko Helander, Kesko's president and CEO, said in a news release. Founded in 1940 and based in the Finnish capital, Helsinki, Kesko group is the third-largest retailer in northern Europe.

Cross-border capital flows to remain stable

China's cross-border capital movements will remain stable in the second half of this year, the foreign exchange regulator said on Sept 28, adding that the authorities will still have to keep an eye on capital flow risks. China will also maintain a reasonable current account surplus in the second half, and the ratio of the current account surplus to GDP for 2017 will remain at a reasonable level, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said on its website. For the first half, China's current account surplus was equivalent to 1.2 percent of GDP, SAFE said, after data showed that the country posted a final current account surplus of $50.9 billion (43.3 billion euros; ￡38.4 billion) in the second quarter.

HSBC to offer facial recognition in China

HSBC has launched facial recognition on its mobile banking platform on the Chinese mainland, thus becoming the first foreign bank to employ this new technology in the nation. With the added biometric authentication, customers can now transfer up to 50,000 yuan ($7,500; 6,385 euros; ￡5,665) per day to new payees by combining facial recognition with their passwords on HSBC China's mobile banking app. Customers no longer need a physical security device for such transactions. The adoption of facial recognition on the Chinese mainland is the latest initiative to further grow HSBC's digital capabilities, both in China and farther afield.

France's PSA, Changan to develop pickup

PSA group, France's leading automaker, announced an agreement on Oct 4 with its Chinese partner Changan Automobile to jointly develop a new platform and a new one-ton pickup by 2020. The two partners agreed on a new vehicle platform to be implemented at the Ding Zhou Changan plant in Hebei province, which is dedicated to light commercial vehicles. At the first stage, the vehicle will be offered to Chinese customers and Groupe PSA overseas markets. Patrice Lucas, executive vice-president of programs and strategy at Groupe PSA, says, "This new product... will contribute to achieve the objectives... regarding LCVs with a target to increase volumes by 30 percent by 2018 and triple overseas volumes by 2021."

CBRC warns about surging consumer loans

China's top banking regulator warned on Sept 29 that surging consumer loans may pose potential risks to the country's lending system. It also cautioned against a fast rise in the consumer leverage ratio. "Banking regulators encourage banks to develop consumer finance, but the business must be operated according to high standards," Xiao Yuanqi, chief of the Prudential Regulation Bureau of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, at a news conference. "Banks should assess each consumer's repayment ability comprehensively and authentically, avoid pushing up the consumer leverage ratio, and be careful not to increase the risk of a bubble in certain sectors such as real estate," Xiao said.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 10/06/2017 page24)