14 January 2019 FT — Articles to Read

14 January 2019

 

Question: What is the current level of U.S. Debt?

 

China thwarts market entry for foreign card-payments groups – Pg. 1

–        China’s central bank has refused to acknowledge applications submitted by Visa and Mastercard to process renminbi payments, even though Beijing removed formal obstacles to international participation in the $124tn market in 2017

–        Visa and Mastercard’s efforts to enter China date back at least a decade.  The WTO ruled in 2012 that China was discriminating against foreign payment providers, nearly two years after the US government filed the complaint.  China’s new application rules, published in 2017, were aimed at resolving the issue

–        In November, American Express became the first foreign card scheme to win initial approval to establish a renminbi bank card-clearing company

–        However, Amex’s approval was for a new 50-50 joint venture with a  Chinese partner, even though the rules permit wholly foreign-owned ventures

 

US shutdown hits Wall St as approvals for IPOs and deals are put on hold – Pg. 13

–        National security reviews of acquisitions conducted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, the powerful inter-agency group in Washington that vets takeovers, have been suspended

–        The SEC has stopped examining proxy and registration statements, and its staff will not provide interpretive advice to companies or dealmakers seeking feedback on regulatory filings

 

India becomes fourth-largest market for vehicle sales – Pg. 13

–        India has displaced Germany as the world’s fourth-largest market for vehicle sales by volume and is on track to take the number three position from Japan within three years

–        India’s car market has lots of capacity for further growth.  Fitch estimated that car density – measured by the number of passenger cars per 1,000 people – was just 27 last year, versus 145 in China and 570 in Germany

 

Answer: $21.9tn, of which $16.0tn is owed by the public