issued 126.2 billion yuan (about $18.69 billion) of loans to support environmental protection and pollution treatment in the first half of 2022

Landscape of Thai securities businesses after Covid-19 and under digital disruption

In late 2021, Shenzhen launched its 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) on ecological environmental protection, which mapped out the blueprint for the city's green development in the coming years.

The Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve (US Fed) announced a rate hike in the early morning today (Hong Kong time) following its two-day meeting, raising the target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 0.25-0.5%. In accordance with the established mechanism, the HKMA has raised the Base Rate for the Discount Window by 25 basis points to 0.75% with immediate effect.

China's commercial banks are expected to see their net profit increase by nearly 10 percent in the first half of 2022 amid the country's economic growth and improvement of business environment, according to a report by the Bank of China (BOC).

January-February readings for China's major economic indicators came in better than expected, despite headwinds amid the challenging external environment and COVID-19 cases at home, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Mar.15.

Despite the protracted pandemic and increasingly complex global environment, foreign companies are casting a vote of confidence in the Chinese economy as they continue to see opportunities amid the country's opening-up efforts.

Green and sustainable finance, and environmental, social and governance (ESG) have been top of mind for many financial institutions in Hong Kong and this will remain the case in 2022.

China will remain an attractive market for growth and investment amid the changing regulatory environment and growth opportunities for industries, especially in mergers and acquisitions that are still awaiting multinationals and domestic companies

China remains a strong magnet for foreign investment in a pandemic-jolted world, as revealed by the latest data, and experts believe the trend will continue thanks to the country's continued opening-up and improved business environment.

China is navigating high-level opening-up at the Hainan Free Trade Port. Hainan has seen robust growth in foreign investment inflows as it continues to improve its business environment.

As more financial tools will be adopted to promote the construction of urban environmental infrastructure, more investment is projected to come to this sector, further facilitating China's green development, industry experts said.