The United States is not the only major economic power turning cold on Chinese investment. Now the European Union, China's largest trading partner, is having second thoughts of its own about allowing China to buy up its prime manufacturing and high-tech assets. Concern amongst the EU's heavyweights, including Germany, France and the United Kingdom, is significant, analysts say. While weaker states in the EU, notably Greece, continue to welcome Chinese investment, they are increasingly in the minority.

Regulation has always been the bugbear of the financial sector. On the one hand, it is a necessary part of stable industry growth. On the other, regulatory requirements are one of the biggest challenges for banks today; the global banking industry spends an estimated US$270 billion a year on compliance-related costs. Nowhere is the regulatory challenge more acute than in Asia Pacific, where a confluence of cultures, political systems, languages, and financial systems come together daily across the region. 

All things considered, the U.S. and China had amicable trade discussions this week. With the clock ticking on the 90-day trade-war ceasefire, both sides have impetus to resolve the trade tiff. The Chinese economy likely grew at its slowest pace in 30 years - 6.5% - in 2018 as U.S. tariffs battered exports. The U.S. economy remains resilient for now, but U.S. President Donald Trump is watching the mercurial stock market nervously. People close to the administration say that he hopes to reach a trade deal with China to rally investors.

Kapronasia is quoted regularly in the press on a wide variety of topics related to the Asia Pacific and China financial industries including:

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2016 December 19th - Faith-based Banking: Wealth Management Products in China
2016 December 10th - Fintech in China with Zennon Kapron
2016 December 5th - FT - Bank card groups to lose China market share
2016 December 2nd - Bitcoin Magazine - Bitcoin Price Reaches 2-Year High in China; Experts Predict Bull Market Likely to Continue
2016 November 25th - SCMP - China orders banks to stop issuing dual-currency credit cards to stem capital flight
2016 November 23rd - Aljazeera - Will China lift its ban on Facebook?
2016 November 14th - FT - Ant leads China's banks into the cloud
2016 November 2nd - Spend Matters -China Trade Finance 2016: A closer look at the trends and issues shaping the market
2016 October 31st - Intheblack - Fuelled by remarkable achievements in education, Vietnam is newest high-tech success
2016 October 23rd - SCMP - Crackdown on underground banks intensifies as concerns over outflows increase
2016 September 19th - SCMP - Fintech – the next frontier for Hong Kong’s battle with Singapore?
2016 September 6th - Bobsguide - Kapronasia: The evolution of mobile money in China
2016 August 29th - FT - China banks starved of big data as mobile payments rise
2016 August 26th - Bloomberg - China's Top Search Engine Freezes Bitcoin Ads Without Warning
2016 August 24th - Asia Money - Banks and Fintech: Better Connected
2016 August 17th - Reuters - Rise of the machines: Chinese investors flock to robo-advisors
2016 August 9th - Fintech Innovation - 6 percent VAT: opportunity and burden for Chinese financial institutions
2016 August 6th - Al Jazeera - Is the sun setting on Japan's economic slump?
2016 August 3rd - South China Morning Post - Bitcoin struggles for acceptance in Hong Kong
2016 August 2nd - Bloomberg - The Humbling of American Tech Giants in China
2016 August 1st - Bloomberg - Didi Schools Uber on Doing Business in Cut-Throat Chinese Market
2016 July 28th - SNL - Bitcoin makes comeback, as China emerges as center of virtual money trading
2016 July 18th - Enterprise Innovation - China’s EBS International eyes global market with network upgrade
2016 July 6th - eMarketer - Mobile Taobao Users in China Skew Younger
2016 July 6th - Reuters - In up-to-$10 billion IPO, China's PSBC eyes ticket to online financial services boom
2016 June 29th - TechNode - Banks Need to Calm Down About Blockchain
2016 June 29th - Forbes - Will Thailand's E-Commerce 'Cashless' Boom Disrupt Asia's Retail Market? 
2016 June 24th - The Australian Financial Review - Brexit: Bitcoin Surges in Wake of Out Vote
2016 June 22nd - Corporate Treasurer - RBI extends action plan for NPAs
2016 June 1st - South China Morning Post - Hong Kong Struggling to Keep Pace with Regional Peers in Fintech
2016 May 31st - The Wall Street Journal - China Buying Sparks Bitcoin Surge
2016 May 24th - CKGSB Knowledge - Will Ant Financial Become Wildly Successful Like Taobao?
2016 May 13th - The Straits Time - China reins in peer-to-peer lending
2016 May 11th - Fintech Innovation - Building trust with P2P lending 
2016 May 4th - Forbes - UnionPay Partners With Smartphone Brands In Bid For China's Online Payment Market -- Could It Work?
2016 May 4th - Fintech Innovation - Singapore bows to UK as second largest RMB Exchange: New tax rules to curve China’s e-commerce market
2016 April 17th - China Daily – Cashing out
2016 April 13th – Bobsguide - The Globalisation of Fintech
2016 March 31st - Forbes - China's Traditional Banks Still Have A Chance To Win Millennials Over
2016 March 28th - Forbes - Why It's Too Early To Count Apple Pay Out In China
2016 March 17th - Forbes - Measuring Credit: How Baidu, Alibaba And Tencent May Succeed Where Facebook Failed
2016 March 15th - Asian Venture Capital Journal - Transition Time
2016 March 11th - Reuters - Fintech growth accelerates in Asia with record $4.5 billion investments
2016 March 1st - Fintech Innovation - 2016 FSI opportunities in China
2016 February 29th - Enterprise Innovation - Party is over: 2016 is year of consolidation for P2P lending and payments in China
2016 February 16th - CCTV America - Zennon Kapron on China peer-to-peer lending
2016 February 5th - Straits Times - Online lender orchestrated $10.8b ponzi scheme
2016 February 4th - Bloomberg - China's Biggest Ponzi Scheme Shows Rot in Internet Financing
2016 February 3rd - Bloomberg - Ex-Bodyguard Turns Spare Change Into Digital Cash Startup
2016 January 21st - Bloomberg - Chinese Central Bank Studies Prospect of Own Digital Currency
2016 January 4th - South China Morning Post - Can the state take China’s mobile payments market in 2016? Experts think not

2017 December 14th - Wired - Inside China's Vast New Experiment In Social Ranking
2017 December 11th - MIT Technology Review - Can China Contain Bitcoin?
2017 December 11th - Bloomberg - Bitcoin Futures Deliver Wild Ride as Debut Brings Rally, Halts
2017 November 28th - CNBC - The newest ICO trying to earn millions is a Chinese start-up worried about baby food
2017 November 27th- Forbes - Boeing 747s To Luxury Villas: Why China's Businesses Are Offloading Assets In Massive Online Auctions
2017 October 2nd - Tech in Asia - How fintech startups are using big data to solve China's huge credit gap
2017 September 20th - Fintech Innovation - Ethereum to fuel Crypto coins passing US$1 trillion mark in 2017
2017 September 12th - CNBC - Whats to come in China's bitcoin crackdown?
2017 September 5th - The Guardian - Cryptocurrency boom stalls as regulators focus on ICOs
2017 September 5th - Financial Times - China central bank declares initial coin offerings illegal
2017 September 4th - South China Morning Post - China’s top consumer credit firm fined US$1.37 million for malpractice, executives fined, blacklistedChina’s top consumer credit firm fined US$1.37 million for malpractice, executives fined, blacklisted
2017 September 4th - Reuters - China bans initial coin offerings as illegal fundraising
2017 September 1st - Financial Times - China targets speculative frenzy from ‘initial coin offerings’
2017 August 31st - Campaign - Social media is the future of mobile payments in China
2017 August 31st - Techcrunch - The first ICO unicorns are here
2017 August 28th - ASEAN Today - Unfair competition favouring UnionPay against Visa and MasterCard?
2017 August 24th - Reuters - China's Fosun invests in local version of bitcoin tech blockchain
2017 August 7th - The Moodie Davitt Report - Travel retailers lag behind other merchants in accepting mobile payments, says study
2017 August 6th - Asian Investor - Investors told: look beyond startups in China fintech
2017 August 4th - CNBC - It's a very good time to be a money launderer, and you can thank cryptocurrencies
2017 August 4th - NFC World - Mobile payments in China: How the tech giants are changing the future of payments
2017 July 30th - Chinasquare - iTrends: Baidu betaalt met PayPal
2017 July 29th - Enterprise Innovation - Amazon invades Singapore, eyes bigger Southeast Asia market
2017 July 26th - Le Temps - Swatch investit le marché chinois du paiement mobile
2017 July 26th - SCMP - Chinese not so keen, or unable, to make mobile payments overseas
2017 July 23rd - Enterprise Innovation - China’s shadow banking crackdown needs a bigger stick
2017 July 19th - Benzinga - Kapronasia Launches New Study Looking at the Future of Anti-Money Laundering Solutions in Asia
2017 July 10th - Payments Disrupted - How the tech giants are changing the future of payments in China
2017 July 10th - NFC World - What's New in Payments, Volume Two
2017 July 2nd - The Moodie Davitt Report - Prepare for a mobile payment revolution among Chinese travelling shoppers, says new survey
2017 June 30th - Technode - How China's Mobile Payment Craze Will Affect the Future of Global Luxury Retailing
2017 June 30th - IBS Intelligence - Chinese toursits are driving mobile payments across the globe
2017 June 28th - Banking Technology - Money20/20 Europe: Asia in the ascendant
2017 June 19th - SCMP - P2P Platform Yirendai ready to move up a league or two, including into wealth management
2017 June 12th - Sina Finance - 蚂蚁金服上市前夜：移动支付遭遇微信挑战，蚂蚁海外凶猛扩张
2017 May 15th - Forbes - Your Mobile Money: Surviving A Day In China Without Cash Or Cards
2017 May 10th - Motherboard - China is on Track to Fully Phase Out Cash
2017 May 10th - One World Identity - Chinese mobile payment giants make landfall in U.S.
2017 April 26th - Analyse Asia - Ant Financial with Zennon Kapron
2017 April 24th - China Internet Watch - The Growth of Digital Payment Ecosystems in China: what it means for other countries
2017 April 20th - Tech In Asia - How WeChat Pay became Alipay's largest rival
2017 April 5th - Global Capital - Indian banks respond to Modi's Demonetization Shock Therapy
2017 March 29th - Tech In Asia - Ant Financial to build an open marketplace for finance products
2017 March 20th - The Moodie Davitt Report - Global study set to become “industry benchmark” for measuring impact of Asian mobile payments
2017 March 17th - Alternative Finance - Chinese robo advice could be opportunity for European fintech firms
2017 February 13th - FT - China mobile payments dwarf those in US as fintech booms, research shows
2017 January 31st - Digital Currency Executive Brief - China Pushes Banks to Adopt Blockchain Tech
2017 January 26th - Reuters - China turns to blockchain to make markets clearer and cleaner
2017 January 19th - Bloomberg - Stemming the Tide: Six Things China Can Do Next to Curb Outflows
2017 January 17th - Economist Intelligence Unit - Better Life Breakthroughs: Innovation in Investment
2017 January 9th - Bloomberg - Bitcoin Extends Loss After China’s Central Bank Warns Investors
2017 January 5th - CNN - China is freaking out bitcoin traders

The first private bank went live in January 2015, with the rest soon to follow. NFC continues its growth in both awareness and acceptance for mobile payments. China UnionPay quietly becomes a truly global player both in online and offline. What else will 2015 hold for banking in China?

Internationalization of China’s financial sector has been a key industry trend for a number of years. This year, that trend is more pronounced than ever. Chinese finance is more connected to the global economy than ever before, with new reforms, partnerships and investments. Looking forward, what changes can we expect in China’s financial sector? Will the trends established in 2014 continue? Will the speed of reform slow down?

Innovation has given China’s consumers an unprecedented choice of financial products and services at their fingertips. The 2016 China Banking Trends and Outlook report looks at some of the key trends, issues and challenges for China's banking industry as we go into 2016.

It will come as no surprise to followers of China’s markets when we say that 2015 was undoubtedly one of the most impactful years we have seen in recent decades. But what lies ahead for 2016? Will the stock market face another turbulent year? Will regulations hinder development?