Briefs | Prudent, neutral monetary policy for next year

China’s top policy makers said they plan prudent and neutral monetary policy and proactive fiscal policy next year as they seek to sustain a steady expansion with room for reforms. Preventing and controlling financial risk to avoid asset bubbles will be a priority, along with deepening supply-side structural reform, according to a statement Friday from the official Xinhua News Agency issued after officials concluded the three-day Central Economic Work Conference in Beijing. Policy makers said they aim to ensure currency and liquidity levels are both kept basically stable.

Insurance buying in Hong Kong to be restricted

Chinese residents buying insurance in Hong Kong will no longer be able to swipe their credit cards multiple times to get around previously imposed curbs intended to slow sales, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Purchases of insurance in Hong Kong using MasterCard Inc. and Visa Inc. credit cards issued in China have been capped at USD5,000 per insurance product, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the changes haven’t been made public. Hong Kong insurers were notified by the card companies about the change, which took effect Saturday, the people said.

China, Japan more vulnerable to financial shocks

Asian economies including China, Hong Kong and Japan have become more vulnerable to financial shocks since the 2008 global crisis and are now among the most at risk, according to a Bank of England research paper. “The sluggish global recovery took its toll particularly on the Asian economies, with vulnerabilities rising to elevated levels over the past few years,” Jack Fisher and Lukasz Rachel wrote in the paper, published on Friday. While vulnerabilities were high in the U.S. in the run-up to the financial crisis and relatively low for some large Asian economies, “it is now emerging markets and Asia in particular that appear to be the most vulnerable,” they said.