China's central bank will combine two monetary policy tools to further support the country's capital market, said Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) on Wednesday.
Pan made the announcement at a press briefing where officials of the PBOC, National Financial Regulatory Administration, and China Securities Regulatory Commission introduced a package of financial policies rolled out to stabilize the capital market and expectations.
"We will further support the capital market by optimizing two monetary policy tools, combining the Securities, Funds and Insurance companies Swap Facility (SFISF) and the loans for share buybacks and increasing shareholdings. As the former has an initial scale of 500 billion yuan (over 69 billion U.S. dollars) and the latter has an initial re-lending scale of 300 billion yuan (over 41 billion U.S. dollars), the combined scale will reach 800 billion yuan (over 110 billion U.S. dollars)," said Pan.
The PBOC set up the SFISF in October last year. The tool allows eligible securities, funds and insurance companies to use their assets, including bonds, stock ETFs, and holdings in constituents of the CSI 300 Index, as collateral in exchange for highly liquid assets such as treasury bonds and central bank bills.
The loans for share buybacks and increasing shareholdings is a re-lending facility to guide banks in providing loans to listed companies and their major shareholders for buybacks and increasing shareholdings. It can be applied to various types of companies regardless of their ownership, according to the central bank.
China's central bank to optimize monetary policy tools to support capital market: governor
The number of temporary accommodation registrations of foreign nationals in Shanghai hit a record high of 7.139 million in 2025, up 49.6 percent from the previous year, the Exit-Entry Administration Corps of the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau said at a press briefing on Thursday.
The figure, which had already doubled in 2024, points to a continued rise in the number of foreign nationals visiting and staying in the city, highlighting the metropolis's growing appeal to international visitors.
Shanghai also issued more than 200,000 visas and residence permits to foreigners for the second consecutive year in 2025.
Long-term permits, including residence permits, accounted for a share 10 percentage points higher than the previous year, reflecting growing demand for extended stays.
Officials said the increase mirrors Shanghai's expanding openness and improving services for foreign visitors and residents.
"In 2025, Shanghai processed 7.139 million temporary accommodation registrations for foreigners. Following a doubling from the year before last, the figure rose by another 49.6 percent year on year, marking a historical high in the number of foreign nationals coming to Shanghai," said Song Weiqi, deputy head of the administration corps.
Accommodation registrations are required for foreigners staying in China. In 2025, 94.7 percent of temporary accommodation registrations were handled directly by hotels, resulting in a convenient check-in process.
Among foreigners residing in Shanghai's residential communities, 84.8 percent opted for online self-reporting via a multilingual platform that offers efficient, flexible registration.
Meanwhile, to ease the surge in passport applications for foreign travel ahead of the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday in mid-February, the administration corps announced plans to extend service hours for residents.
Shanghai hits a record-high 7.14 million expat accommodation registrations in 2025
Shanghai hits a record-high 7.14 million expat accommodation registrations in 2025
