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China has cut a controversial tax on personal items bought overseas, ranging from iPads to books, in an effort to boost consumer confidence. The government will slash the "tax on baggage and articles accompanying incoming passengers and personal postal articles", a three-in-one tax consisting of value-added tax, consumption tax and import duties on April 9, according to a notice posted online by the Ministry of Finance on Monday. The tax rate on products including computers, foodstuffs, gold and silverware, furniture and medicines will be lowered to 13 per cent from 15 per cent. The rate for commodities including textiles, electric appliances and bicycles will be cut to 20 per cent from 25 per cent, according to the statement. The tax rate for wine, cigarettes, jewellery, golf equipment, luxury watches and high-grade cosmetics will be kept at 50 per cent. This is the second round of tax cuts on consumer products bought overseas in six months, after Beijing initially lowered the rate on November 1 2018. The last round of tax cuts saw the tax on wine and cigarettes cut from 60 per cent to 50 per cent, while the tax rate on textiles and home appliances was slashed from 30 per cent to 25 per cent The decision was announced by Premier Li Keqiang at a routine State Council meeting last week, according to a statement on the government's website, which also said that the cut is designed to boost imports and consumer confidence. "For those products that are used by the general public, we must effectively reduce the customs tax rate," Li said in the statement. "The relevant departments will further study how to lower the price of necessary imports for the country." Hong Hao, head of research at Bank of Communications International, said that while the cut will help boost consumption, it will not provide a massive lift to Chinese consumer confidence, which has been dampened by the <a href="https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3004961/us-says-theres-still-significant-work-be-done-trade-talks" target="_self">US-China trade war</a> and a <a href="https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/2188625/china-lowers-2019-gdp-growth-target-6-65-cent-range" target="_self">sluggish domestic economy</a>. "Two percentage points [cut] will not make a lot of difference," said Hong, referring to the small tax cut on some products. "It is a difficult situation now [for consumption]. Perhaps a recovery in the housing market and a rebound in the stock market would really boost spending." The tax has proven controversial among individual travellers since it was implemented in 2010. It also caused friction among government departments. At the time, the Ministry of Commerce issued discouraging correspondence to China's customs agency, local media reported. The tax also poses a threat to the business model of the <a href="https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/2174570/chinas-e-commerce-consumers-given-more-duty-free-spending" target="_self">Chinese army of</a> <a href="https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/2174570/chinas-e-commerce-consumers-given-more-duty-free-spending" target="_self">daigou</a> , cross-border shoppers who purchase goods cheaper overseas and bring them back to China, via personal luggage or postal services, to be sold at a profit. However, the cut comes as analysts grow increasingly concerned that consumption and trade are the weak points in the Chinese economy. 'There's a pickup in production but they need to get people out buying and consuming," said Banny Lam, head of research at <keyword id="346068" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="China-Everbright-Bank">China Everbright Bank</keyword> International Investment, referring to the pick up in the nation's manufacturing sector in March. The official purchasing managers index for the month jumped to 50.5, compared to 49.2 in February. A reading above 50 indicates growth from the previous month. Beijing has declared that it is embarking on the "<a href="https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3002364/chinas-unprecedented-and-sufficient-tax-cut-still-does-not-do" target="_self">biggest tax cut</a> campaign in its history" to <a href="https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3005218/china-pledges-remove-unreasonable-barriers-and-restrictions" target="_self">cushion the impact</a> of slowing domestic demand and a trade war with the United States. According to Premier Li's work report released last month, the overall tax reduction package, including the cut to the social contribution fees, will be worth 2 trillion yuan this year, equivalent to 2.1 per cent of China's <keyword id="6354971" type="DEFINITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="gross-domestic-product">gross domestic product</keyword>. This article originally appeared on the <a href="http://www.scmp.com">South China Morning Post (SCMP)</a>, the leading news media reporting on China and Asia. For more SCMP stories, please download our <a href="https://go.onelink.me/3586748601?pid=3rdpartycontentexchange">mobile app</a>, follow us on <a href="https://twitter.com/scmpnews">Twitter</a>, and like us on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/scmp">Facebook</a>. Copyright (c) 2019. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

China cuts tax on personal items bought overseas in move to boost consumption

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>SHANGHAI/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Squeezed between cut-throat competition from online financing firms and rising funding costs, China's midsize banks are falling out of investors' favor as they increasingly lag behind the country's top five lenders.
While margins generated from lending have remained broadly stable at the larger banks, they have shrunk considerably for the second-tier lenders like China Everbright Bank &lt;601818.SS&gt; and China Merchants Bank &lt;600036.SS&gt; over the past six months, a Reuters data analysis shows.
And like some of their European peers, those smaller lenders are also lagging behind the big banks in terms of balance sheet strength, analysts say, a factor that is likely to be highlighted in the banking sector's third-quarter earnings.
China's five biggest banks are Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd &lt;601398.SS&gt;&lt;1398.HK&gt; (ICBC), China Construction Bank Corp &lt;601939.SS&gt;&lt;0939.HK&gt; (CCB), Agricultural Bank of China Ltd &lt;1288.HK&gt;&lt;601288.SS&gt;, Bank of China (BoC) &lt;601988.SS&gt; &lt;3988.HK&gt; and Bank of Communications Co Ltd &lt;601328.SS&gt; &lt;3328.HK&gt;.
"The divergence between big and medium or small-sized banks will increase, as the latter see higher fundraising risks due to their weaker capital base," said Fan Cheuk Wan, chief investment officer Asia Pacific in Credit Suisse's private banking and wealth management unit.
CCB is due to kick off the banking sector's third-quarter earnings season on Thursday.
Second-tier lenders, also known as joint stock banks, have, on average, a market capitalization of less than 300 billion yuan, significantly smaller than the big five lenders.
Chinese banks' net interest margins (NI Ms), or the gap between what the lenders pay out for deposits and rake in from loans, have come under pressure from aggressive competition from online financing firms such as e-commerce group Alibaba's <baba.n> Yuebao platform.</baba.n>
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>This is particularly a problem for smaller banks, which have to pay more to fund themselves as their regulatory capital ratio - a measure of balance sheet strength - is on average 1.5 percentage points weaker than that seen at the larger players.
"Net interest margins are likely to decline faster for smaller banks in China going forward, as they face rising costs of funding," said Vincent Chan, head of China research at Credit Suisse.
The average net interest margin for China's top five banks, has remained stable at around 2.6 percent over the last year.
In contrast, the next seven banks saw this key indicator of profitability drop to 1.86 percent in the second quarter from levels previously comparable to the big banks. The margins are seen falling further in the third-quarter.
To counter the profit squeeze, investors say second-tier lenders may look to innovate by embracing online finance.
"Online e-commerce is one area where the small- and mid-sized banks are a lot more flexible in partnering with a lot of the e-commerce retailers," said Tony Chu, who manages a portfolio for RS Investments, a fund with $24 billion of capital and positions in Chinese banks.
The big five banks also benefit from closer ties to the country's top state-owned companies, known as SOEs. Lending to these conglomerates is considered much safer because of implicit government guarantees.
"Large SOEs will emerge as winners and you want to be the bank that's lending to them, not the guys that are going to be driven out," said Matthew Smith, a banks analyst at Macquarie. Smith said he was positive about ICBC and CCB versus the smaller lenders since they count more large public companies among their clients.
(Editing by Lisa Jucca and Miral Fahmy)

China's Midsize Banks Are Being Squeezed

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:480px"><div class="image"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dierkschaefer/">Flickr / dierk schaefer</a></div></div>This weekend<a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/08/17/hiring-in-china-by-jpmorgan-under-scrutiny/?hp&amp;_r=0"> reports surfaced that the SEC is investigating JPMorgan for hiring Chinese 'princelings'</a> (the privileged children of ruling Communist Party leaders) in order to land business in the country.
The bank has yet to be accused of any wrong-doing, and the SEC isn't accusing these hires of being unqualified people either.
So cue the — 'oh c'mon, it's just business' — crowd, correctly pointing out that these kids are well-connected, and probably some of the best educated people in the country. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jp-morgan-china-investigation-2013-8">Why wouldn't JPMorgan want to hire them?</a>
It's a really simple argument, but it doesn't take into account what constitutes a crime in this case — the true causes and effects of these hires.
The problem isn't who JPMorgan is <keyword id="6357342" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Hiring">hiring</keyword>, it's why — and if JPMorgan is hiring these people in order to land business deals, that's a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and there is legal precedent for the government to take action.
To understand that, you have to look at them on a case by case basis. In this story there are two specific hires that require a deeper look at cause and effect.
First off, <a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/08/17/hiring-in-china-by-jpmorgan-under-scrutiny/?hp&amp;_r=0">according to the New York Times</a>, is the hiring of a Chinese railway official 's daughter in JPMorgan's Hong Kong office back in 2007. The official's daughter was hired while his agency, The China Railway Group, was selecting JPMorgan to advise on its IPO. The bank raised $5 billion for the company. The official was later detained on accusations of doling out public documents for cash bribes.
The second case involves the son of the CEO of a company called China Everbright. JPMorgan had never done business with the company before hiring the CEO's son, but once he was hired, China Everbright became one of the <keyword id="6368751" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Banks">banks</keyword> <a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/08/17/hiring-in-china-by-jpmorgan-under-scrutiny/?hp&amp;_r=0">"prized Asian clients."</a>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="position: absolute; top: -1999px; left: -1988px;">prized Asian clients.”</div>
U.S. companies are required to stick to certain rules when they operate abroad, whether a ruling oligarchy happens to be consolidating their grasp on power or not.
And according to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, it doesn't even matter if the workers are qualified, the mere act of hiring a family member in order to foster a business relationship with someone is a no-no.
That's why, in 2007, a company called Paradigm caught the government's ire for a plethora of questionable foreign dealings, one of which was hiring the brother of a "decision maker" at Mexico's state oil company, Pemex.
Paradigm officials had already spent $10,000 "entertaining" the decision maker, <a href="http://www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/fcpa/cases/paradigm/09-21-07paradigm-agree.pdf">according to government filings</a>, when his brother was hired as a driver for the company.
Now, the "decision maker's" brother did actually work as a driver (so that's nice) but around the same time, Paradigm also scored a contract with Pemex through this "decision maker."
Not a good look — Paradigm was forced to admit wrongdoing (you know JPMorgan does not like that) and make changes to their rules and internal bribery controls as a result.
So add this to the long list of reasons <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/regulators-pile-on-jpmorgan-2013-8?utm_source=hearst&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=allverticals">JPMorgan should be treading lightly these days</a> — at home and abroad.

The Problem With JP Morgan's Hiring In China Isn't Who They Hire, It's Why They Hire Them

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image">REUTERS/Carlos BarriaWomen walk in the financial area of Pudong in Shanghai April 26, 2011. </div></div></div>HONG KONG, Jan 21 (IFR/Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase &amp; Co has stopped working on a Chinese firm's initial public offering amid an investigation by U.S. authorities into its hiring practices in China, people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.
It is the second time JPMorgan has stepped aside from a Chinese IPO candidate while U.S. securities regulators look into whether the bank violated federal laws in hiring the relatives of current or potential clients with the sole purpose of winning business from them.
JPMorgan has ended its IPO discussions with Tianhe Chemicals, the people said, as the supplier of lubricating oil additives to refiners such as China Petroleum and PetroChina was trying to move ahead with an around $1 billion deal. Thomson Reuters publication IFR said on Monday that Tianhe Chemicals hoped to launch the IPO in the second quarter of this year.
JPMorgan's exit was driven by concerns raised about the bank's employment of Joyce Wei, the daughter of Tianhe Chemicals Chairman Qi Wei, IFR reported, citing sources.
Hong Kong securities license filings show that a Jiao Wei worked at JPMorgan from January 2012 to August 2013, and is now on the staff at UBS, joining the Swiss bank in October. Jiao is Joyce Wei's Chinese name, a person familiar with the matter told IFR, affirming also that she is Wei's daughter. Another source said UBS is mandated to work on the Tianhe Chemicals IPO.
JPMorgan and UBS declined to comment. Efforts to reach Joyce Wei and Tianhe Chemicals were not successful.
JPMorgan had been discussing an overseas listing with privately-owned Tianhe since at least 2011, when IFR first reported the company planned to list in London. It is not clear whether Tianhe signed any formal letter of engagement before or after Wei joined JPMorgan. One source said on Tuesday the company - in which Morgan Stanley's Asia private equity unit invested $300 million for a minority stake in 2012 - planned to list in Hong Kong.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice are investigating whether JPMorgan violated bribery laws by improperly hiring the relatives of well-connected Chinese officials. The investigation is ongoing and the bank has not been accused of any wrongdoing related to the case.
JPMorgan earlier withdrew from a syndicate of underwriters working on a $3 billion listing by China Everbright Bank Co, Reuters reported in November.
(Reporting by Fiona Lau of IFR and Lawrence White, with additional reporting by Stephen Aldred and Elzio Barreto; Editing by Michael Flaherty and Ian Geoghegan)

JPMorgan Drops Another China IPO Amid 'Princeling' Probe

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:480px"><div class="image"><a href="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&amp;VBID=2C0BXZ6VPM0W4&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1240&amp;RH=580#/SearchResult_VPage&amp;VBID=2C0BXZ6VPM0W4&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1240&amp;RH=580&amp;PN=1">REUTERS/Aly Song</a></div></div>BEIJING (AP) — A <keyword id="6368158" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="trading">trading</keyword> frenzy that caused Chinese stock prices to swing wildly last week was caused by a design flaw in a brokerage's computer, the market regulator said Sunday.
The avalanche of orders Friday from Everbright Securities Ltd. caused China's main market index to surge nearly 6 percent in 3 minutes before it dropped back. It ended the day down 0.6 percent.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission said its investigators concluded the buying frenzy was not the result of human error. It said Everbright's computer system had design flaws in systems that should limit orders and prices.
A statement on the agency's website gave no indication whether Everbright might face penalties.
Everbright's orders caused trading volume to spike up more than 50 percent above Thursday's level. Prices of major companies such as PetroChina Ltd. and state-owned banks surged by their maximum daily limit of 10 percent before falling back.
Everbright's orders totaled 23.4 billion yuan ($3.7 billion), according to the CSRC. It said completed transactions were almost 7.3 billion yuan ($1.2 billion).
The state-run China News Service said Friday that Everbright asked to cancel the trades. However, the Shanghai Stock Exchange said on its website that any transactions that already had been completed would be cleared normally.
<div class="nc_footer">
Copyright (2013) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
</div>

Here's What Caused That Epic Fat-Finger Trade In The Chinese Stock Market On Friday

Welcome to The Fintech Briefing, a morning email providing the latest news, data, and insight into disruptive fintech in the <keyword id="6354868" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="UK">UK</keyword> and Ireland, the Continent, and beyond, produced by <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/" target="_blank">BI Intelligence</a>.Want to receive The Fintech Briefing to your inbox? Enter your email in the box below.<form action="http://e.businessinsider.com/s/The+Fintech+Briefing" method="post"><label for="email">Email:</label> </form>HSBC GOES BIG ON BIOMETRICS: HSBC has announced it will offer voice recognition and fingerprint authentication account access to all UK customers, including those on its First Direct brand, by summer of this year. This is the largest rollout yet of biometric security to retail banking customers in the UK, affecting <a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160219005825/en/HSBC-Launches-Biometric-Banking">15 million people</a>.<ul><li>HSBC has previously lagged other major UK banks on biometric login options. Barclays offers some customers the opportunity to use voice recognition services, and a "biometric scanner" to <a href="https://www.home.barclays/news/2014/September/barclays-first-in-uk-to-launch-new-biometric-reader-for-customer.html">corporate clients</a>, while RBS and Natwest launched fingerprint authentication <a href="http://personal.rbs.co.uk/personal/ways-to-bank-with-us/mobile-banking/touch-id.html">last year.</a> However, at present no other bank offers all retail customers biometric authentication options, given that fingerprint technology can only be used by those with a mobile app.</li><li>First Direct started out as a telephone-only bank, therefore the introduction of voice recognition makes sense given their client base. Consumers will have to enroll their voiceprint, but once registration is complete they will no longer need to use memorable answers and passwords. Voices and fingerprints are <a href="http://www.about.hsbc.co.uk/news-and-media">"almost impossible to mimic"</a>, making them much more secure than traditional methods, according to the bank. And yes, the system can handle colds, coughs and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35609833">speech impediments</a> according to the UK Head of Customer Contact at HSBC in an interview with the BBC.</li></ul><ul><li>Voice recognition is provided by Nuance Communications. <a href="http://www.nuance.com/index.htm">The company, </a>which has headquarters in the US and Ireland, is fast becoming the go-to firm for financial services companies wanting to use voice recognition technology. Nuance is already providing services to ING in the Netherlands and the Royal Bank of Canada among others.</li></ul><ul><li>UK consumers are ready to try biometrics. 61% of consumers believe biometric identification is either "just as secure, or more secure, than current system passwords" according to an <a href="http://www.experian.co.uk/blogs/latest-thinking/uk-now-ready-biometric-banking/">Experian survey</a> conducted last year. Consumers are also more willing to use biometric security in order to access online bank accounts than social media accounts.<div class="KonaFilter image-container click-to-enlarge"><div class="image"><a title_source="BI Intelligence" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56cd54f5dd0895cf048b4726-960/bii-uk perceptions of biometric authentication_2.23.16.png"></a>BI Intelligence</div></div></li></ul>SAMSUNG PAY COMES TO EUROPE: On the same day Samsung announced adoption figures for Samsung Pay in the US and South Korea, it also announced <a href="http://www.samsungmobilepress.com/2016/02/20/Samsung-Pay-Continues-Global-Momentum-in-2016">its plan</a> to launch the service in the UK and Spain by the end of this year.<ul><li>Transport for London (TfL) included in list of partners. This is important because the network is seen as a leader in adopting payment methods and has seen great success with both contactless cards and smartphone payments. Once consumers are using a payment method on TfL they know it is secure and efficient, and are therefore likely to use it elsewhere. Over 35,000 transactions are already made via smartphone everyday for TfL's services, according to calculations from <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/01/28/tfl-sees-over-3-million-mobile-phone-journeys-since-apple-pay-la/">The Telegraph</a>. That represents a sevenfold increase in transactions in the last 6 months of 2015 following the launch of Apple Pay.</li></ul><ul><li>Samsung's proprietary MST technology won't be game changer in Europe. MST allows smartphone payments to be made at terminals which have the old-fashioned magnetic stripe readers - relevant in the US due to the slow rollout of EMV and contactless terminals. Europe already has a large number of contactless terminals, and consumers are already "tapping to pay" using their contactless cards, especially in the UK where there were 128 million contactless card transactions in <a href="http://www.theukcardsassociation.org.uk/contactless_contactless_statistics/">November 2015.</a> That means that MST won't give Samsung Pay a significant advantage over Apple Pay or Android Pay in Europe.</li><li>The list of partners includes major payments networks, banks, and retailers: American Express, China UnionPay, MasterCard, and Visa. Many of the countries' major banks and partners include Abanca, American Express, Banco do Brasil, Banco Sabadell, Bradesco, Brasil Pre-Pagos, Caixa, CaixaBank, China Construction Bank, China Everbright Bank, China Guangfa Bank, China Minsheng Banking Corp, DBS, El Corte Inglés, ImaginBank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Itaú Unibanco, MBNA, Nationwide Building Society, Nu Bank, OCBC Bank, Ping An Bank, Porto Seguro, Santander, Standard Chartered Bank and Transport for London (TfL).</li></ul>Enjoying The Fintech Briefing? Enter your email to receive it directly to your inbox.<form action="http://e.businessinsider.com/s/The+Fintech+Briefing" method="post"><label for="email">Email:</label> </form>PAYPAL PARTNERS WITH VODAFONE: PayPal gave more detail on its recent partnership with Vodafone at Mobile World Congress this week. Consumers who have PayPal will be able to link it to their Vodafone Wallet, while those who don't have it will be prompted to open an account in the wallet - enabling consumers to use PayPal in store. It will also make PayPal part of a four-way inter-industry collaboration also including Vodafone, Visa, and Alphabet (Google).<ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">The partnership heralds PayPal's move to NFC. PayPal previously <a href="http://fortune.com/2012/07/18/nfc-isnt-ready-for-prime-time/">shunned contactless technology</a>, but since its split from Ebay it's increasingly looking to grow its in-store presence. Doing so means competing with Visa, MasterCard, and Apple Pay, and therefore NFC is a requirement.</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">The service will start in Spain and expand to other markets "later this year". This makes sense given that Spain is a global leader in contactless payment acceptance. Spain had 1.2 million POS terminals in <a href="http://sdw.ecb.europa.eu/quickview.do?SERIES_KEY=169.PSS.A.ES.S102.I00.I200.NT.X0.20.Z0Z.Z">2014</a> of which <a href="https://www.visaeurope.com/newsroom/news/1-billion-visa-contactless-purchases-made-in-last-year">half</a> were contactless by July 2015.</li><li>PayPal will make Vodafone Wallet more appealing to consumers. Telco wallets have struggled to take off in Europe due to a lack of trust in their security, and the poor customer experience involved in manually topping them up from other payment sources. Vodafone claimed to solve the latter problem <a href="http://www.nfcworld.com/2015/03/30/334767/vodafone-combines-tokens-and-sims-for-nfc-payments-in-europe/">last year</a> with an announcement that consumers in major European markets would be able to link Visa and Mastercard cards to their wallet in order to avoid having to manually top up prepaid accounts. PayPal will add a 3rd direct payment method as well as bringing a trusted brand to the wallet to reassure wary consumers.</li></ul>VISA CHECKOUT COMES TO EUROPE: Visa has <a href="http://investor.visa.com/news/news-details/2015/Visa-Inc-to-Acquire-Visa-Europe/default.aspx">announced </a>that Visa Checkout will be coming to the UK this year - and France, Spain, Ireland, and Poland. Original e- and m-commerce checkout proposition V.me was quietly shut down in Europe in September 2015, and this week's press release suggests that Visa is hoping to build on the success the Visa Checkout brand has built internationally. In the US, Visa Checkout has overtaken PayPal Express as the payment method most likely to result in conversion on e-commerce sites <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/visa-is-besting-paypal-online-2015-8?r=US&amp;IR=T">according</a> to data collated for Visa by comScore. The rebrand also ties in with Visa Inc.'s acquisition of Visa Europe announced late last year.AROUND THE WORLD<ul><li>Chinese banks will <a href="https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/28504/chinese-banks-charged-half-the-fees-levied-by-apple-pay-on-us-banks?utm_medium=NewsFlash&amp;utm_source=2016-2-23">pay half the amount</a> their US counterparts do to leverage Apple Pay. Discussions over the fees were in part responsible for the delay in introducing Apple Pay to China.</li><li>Mastercard <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/mastercard-to-start-using-selfies-as-id-for-online-payments-a6889471.html">"Selfie Pay"</a> gets the go head as a means of ID verification for online payments. Following <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/mastercard-trials-selfie-pay-2015-8">successful testing</a> in the US and the Netherlands, the technology is due to be rolled out across Europe and the US soon.</li><li>Australian Fintech firm MoneyMe gets a boost. The company which until now has offered small loans, has received $30 million to develop niche Fintech products aimed at millennials. According to <a href="https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/63222/oz-fintech-moneyme-raises-30m">Finextra</a>, it marks a shift in confidence towards Fintech by Australian investors.</li></ul><div id="categorypromo" style="border:1px solid silver; min-height:90px; padding:10px;vertical-align:top;"><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/fintech-predictions-for-2016?IR=T&amp;utm_source=businessinsider&amp;utm_medium=ctgr&amp;utm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_content=fintech_ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_campaign=fintech_ctgr_leadgen_2016-fintech-predictions"></a> EXCLUSIVE FREE REPORT: 5 Top Fintech Predictions by the BI Intelligence Research Team. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/fintech-predictions-for-2016?IR=T&amp;utm_source=businessinsider&amp;utm_medium=ctgr&amp;utm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_content=fintech_ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_campaign=fintech_ctgr_leadgen_2016-fintech-predictions">Get the Report Now »</a></div> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/animated-map-global-fiber-optic-internet-cables-2016-2">Animated map reveals the 550,000 miles of cable hidden under the ocean that power the internet</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="1iNHI3dzr1l7P_ZGDpqWJC3kUle6Dsan" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

FINTECH BRIEFING: HSBC goes big on biometrics - Samsung Pay comes to Europe - PayPal partners with Vodafone

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image">REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis A young man takes photos of his girlfriend next to Ukrainian riot policemen guarding the regional administration building following a pro-Russian rally in central Donetsk March 23, 2014. </div></div></div>Good morning! Here's what you need to know.
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/march-hsbc-china-flash-pmi-2014-3#ixzz2wsFLxsbI">China PMI.</a> China PMI fell to an eight-month low of 48.1. That was also short of expectations for 48.7. "The HSBC Flash China Manufacturing PMI reading for March suggests that China's growth momentum continued to slow down," Hongbin Qu, HSBC China's chief economist said in press release. "Weakness is broadly-based with domestic demand softening further."
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/china-stimulus-2014-3">Softer landing.</a> AFP now says Chinese authorities are likely to begin enacting stimulus measures to tone down any threat of a hard landing. " 'The government needs to take quick action in view of its growth target of about 7.5 percent,' Barclays Capital said in an analysis of the PMI data. Zhang Zhiwei, economist at Nomura International in Hong Kong, expected leaders to cut the amount of funds banks must keep in reserve in the second half of the year -- a step they have used in the past to boost liquidity. He also forecast fiscal policy to turn 'expansionary' in the second quarter to prevent gross domestic product growth from falling below 7.0 percent."
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/french-flash-pmi-2014-3">France PMI.</a> France's latest flash PMI reading surged to 51.6 from 47.9, a 31-month high. That should be welcome news for President Francois Hollande, whose socialist party was battered in municipal elections this weekend. 
Markets. S&amp;P 500 futures are up, while U.S. treasury futures are lower. Markets in Asia ended the day green across the board. European markets were lower.
Chicago Fed. At 8:30 we get the Chicago Fed's index of national activity. Consensus is for a reading of 0.10 versus -0.39 prior.
 Flash PMI. At 10 a.m. we get the U.S. flash PMI report. Consensus is for a two tick gain from the prior survey showing 56.7.
<a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303949704579457370366285790?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories&amp;mg=reno64-wsj">Hilsenrath.</a> The Wall Street Journal's Jon Hilsenrath this morning provides perspective on the notion Fed Chair Janet Yellen may have alluded to rate increases in last week's testimony. " The Fed, in its official policy statement, said it planned to keep short-term rates below what it sees as appropriate for a normal economy even after the unemployment rate and inflation revert to typical levels... Put another way, the economy can't bear a level of interest rates that looked normal in the past because it has been so deeply scarred by the financial crisis."
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-talking-to-comcast-for-apple-tv-2014-3">Apple-Comcast.</a> Apple is talking to Comcast about using Apple TV as a cable box that streams video, according to a new report from Shalini Ramachandran, Daisuke Wakabayashi, Amol Sharma at the Wall Street Journal. BI's Jay Yarow writes: "Apple appears to have a vision for how to deliver an Internet-based TV service. It would store content in the cloud. It would be live, and on-demand. Presumably, it would have a simple, gorgeous interface that's easy to use. But Apple, even with $146 billion in cash, can't just go out and do this on its own. It has to work with Comcast because Comcast delivers Internet and TV to millions of people in the U.S."
<a href="http://on.ft.com/1kWcfrg">JPMorgan in China.</a> A vice-chairman at JP Morgan is stepping down as investigations continue into the bank's hiring practices in Asia. "The probe ... has hurt JPMorgan's business in Asia, causing the bank to pull out of two high profile initial public offerings - Tianhe Chemicals and Everbright Bank."
<a href="https://twitter.com/BloombergTV/status/448040353833435136">Grubhub Seamless IPO</a>. Shares in the Grubhub Seamless' IPO are expected to be priced at $20-$22.
***
Below is a Q&amp;A with Judith Dwarkin, director of energy research at ITG
***
Business Insider: Who should be most worried about the situation in Ukraine?
Judith Dwarkin: Obviously, there are many serious dimensions to the situation, including the potential for further military incursions by Russia into eastern and southern Ukraine, and battling factions within Ukraine itself contributing to ongoing internal instability. From the narrow perspective of the country's energy supplies, a top concern is that deliveries of Russian gas (and/or gas in transit through Ukraine to Europe) could be disrupted, either intentionally or because of sabotage. Given the current environment of open hostilities and that Ukraine owes Russia around $2 billion for previous gas purchases, there also is the question of how much Russia will charge Ukraine for gas as of April 1. Obtaining gas from eastern Europe to replace the Russian product would give Ukraine a bargaining chip, but arranging this would take some time. 
BI: What will be the fate of the Keystone Pipeline? 
JD: Putting "bullish" and "Keystone" in the same sentence is impossible, given the tortured history of this project. The latest wrinkle in the saga is the ruling by a Nebraska judge that the state's oil pipeline siting law is unconstitutional. Meanwhile, the 90-day "National Interest Determination/Final Decision" phase now underway notionally concludes early in 2Q14, after which a decision, in theory, can (finally) be rendered. While an objective reading of the State Department's findings and consideration of other aspects of the "national interest" associated with this project should favour a positive decision, who knows which way the political winds will be blowing at this time? 
BI:Are you bullish on the timeline for Mexican energy investment?
JD: "Bullish" relative to what? The pace at which development may or will proceed depends on many things, most notably the details on how reform is to be implemented, including local content rules and government take. These details have yet to be worked out. The country also must build new regulatory institutions able to supervise a sector that will be much more complex than previously. The first post-reform bid round reportedly isn't planned to take place until sometime in 2015.

10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:480px"><div class="image">REUTERS/Jim UrquhartA helicopter tanker drops fire retardant near a home at the Beaver Creek wildfire outside Ketchum, Idaho August 18, 2013. Firefighters readied for a massive ground and air attack on Sunday against a wildfire in central Idaho that has forced the evacuation of some 2,250 homes and threatens the posh Sun Valley ski resort.</div></div>Good morning. Here's what you need to know.
<ul>
<li>Markets in Asia were mixed in overnight trading. The Japanese Nikkei 225 and the Shanghai Composite advanced 0.8% each, while the Hong Kong Hang Seng fell 0.2%. European markets are in the red across the board, with Italy down 1.4%. In the United States, futures are slightly positive.</li>
<li>Emerging markets in Asia <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/morning-markets-august-19-2013-8">are getting smoked to begin the week</a>. Indonesia's stock market fell 5.6% Monday, while India's market is 1.6% lower, and Thailand is down 3.3%. India is struggling with a balance of payments crisis, seeing the rupee plunge against the dollar and dragging stocks down with it. In Thailand, GDP came in below expectations today, as worries over EM persist.</li>
<li>Japan's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/japan-july-trade-deficit-doubles-2013-8">trade deficit surged to ¥1.02 trillion in July</a> from ¥182.3 billion in June, blowing by forecasts for a smaller rise to a deficit of ¥773.5 billion. The widening of the deficit was driven by a 19.6% year-over-year rise in imports (economists expected a 16.0% rise) versus a 12.2% year-over-year rise in exports (economists expected a 12.8% advance). The surge in imports was once again driven by higher energy costs.</li>
<li>There are no economic data releases in the U.S. today, but <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/two-key-market-moving-events-this-week-2013-8">two key releases later in the week</a> will take center stage. The first is the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve's July FOMC meeting on Wednesday afternoon, and the second is the release of weekly jobless claims figures on Thursday morning. Both will likely give markets a sense of how likely the Fed is to begin reducing the pace of its bond buying program at the September FOMC meeting.</li>
<li>Analysts are <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gold-is-vulnerable-to-a-short-squeeze-2013-8">turning bullish on gold prices</a>, at least in the short term, following a 17% rally from multi-year lows in late June. They cite a variety of catalysts, including short-covering and recent turmoil in the Middle East.</li>
<li>The ratio of <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/19/us-spain-bad-loans-idUSBRE97I07R20130819">bad loans held by Spanish banks surged to an all-time high</a> of 11.6% in June from 11.2% in May. Forecasters expect bad loans to continue rising into 2014. The data highlight that although the Spanish economy seems to be close to turning a corner, serious issues remain to be taken care of.</li>
<li>Average <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/china-july-home-prices-2013-8">home prices across 70 major Chinese cities rose 0.7% in July</a>, slowing from June's 0.8% increase. Year over year, however, prices rose 7.5%, the biggest annual gain since Reuters began calculating the index in 2011. "The July home prices in 70 major cities are still rising due to strong demand from first-time home buyers and recent rising land prices," said Liu Jianwei, a senior statistician at NBS.</li>
<li>A computer design flaw was <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cause-of-shanghai-composite-fat-finger-trade-2013-8">revealed to be the cause of the 6% surge</a> on the Shanghai Composite in just two minutes on Friday, Chinese regulators said over the weekend. Instead of human error, computers at Everbright Securities, the brokerage behind the accident, were said to contain flaws in systems that limit orders and prices.</li>
<li>The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-tries-saving-bernanke-from-testifying-2013-8">Department of Justice is appealing a ruling</a> that would require Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to testify in a lawsuit brought by former AIG CEO Hank Greenberg against the U.S. over details of the bailout of the insurer during the financial crisis. "The demands of civil litigation, if not appropriately limited by the courts, will impair the ability of senior government officials to lead the departments and agencies for which they are responsible," said the DoJ petition.</li>
<li>JPMorgan is being investigated over <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-hit-by-chinese-hiring-probe-2013-8">whether it hired children of Chinese politicians</a> in order to help it win business in China, according to a report from the New York Times. The Times says it's a civil investigation being led by the SEC's anti-bribery unit.</li>
</ul>

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