MNI China Press Digest July 24: Stable Coins, Banks, Elderly

Highlights from Chinese press reports on Thursday:

• China should consider approving several large state-owned banks to issue yuan stable coins and coordinate development between the central bank's traditional currency and the digital yuan and private financial innovators such as Alipay and WeChat Pay, according to Li Yang, chairman at the National Finance and Development Laboratory. China’s offshore environment and Hong Kong dollar may open up connections to the USD stable coin, allowing for further yuan internationalisation, Li added.
• Commercial banks in Guangdong will address involuted competition and promote the sustainable development of the sector, the Guangdong Banking Association announced, following a special work meeting. Members should strengthen self-discipline and respond to increasingly fierce market competition, the meeting said. According to industry insiders, involuted competition involves the asymmetric decline of deposit and loan interest rates, continuous narrowing of net-interest margins, escalating price wars and a slowdown in net-income growth. (Source: Yicai)
• Elderly disabled citizens in pilot areas will receive subsidy vouchers towards the purchase of home, community or institutional based care services, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Finance announced. Vouchers of up to CNY800 per month will be issued for long or short-term institutional care and CNY500 for home-based services. The vouchers can offset 30%–60% of the cost of such services. Wang Dehua, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the central government will shoulder the majority of the funding.