China to encourage market-based benchmark rates
China considers building a self-disciplined market interest rate pricing mechanism a “near-term task.”  Hu Xiaolian, deputy governor of People’s Bank of China (PBOC), mentioned the priority at a banking conference in Beijing on September 24, according to a posting on the PBOC's website. Trading of certificates of deposit between banks will be permitted in the “near term” for “a steady and orderly promotion of deposit-rate liberalisation”, said Hu. The action will build on July’s removal of borrowing costs and continue to liberalise China’s interest rate regime.