GOVT AND POLICIES
China conducts new central bank bills swap
The People's Bank of China, the central bank, on Wednesday conducted the sixth central bank bills swap (CBS) operation to improve the liquidity of perpetual bonds issued by commercial banks. The CBS, valued at 6 billion yuan ($852.9 million), are open to primary dealers for bidding at a fixed rate at 0.1 percent, the central bank said in a statement. The swap will be due on Feb 27, 2020, the statement showed. The CBS scheme allows dealers to swap the perpetual bonds they hold for central bank bills, which will effectively boost market demand for perpetual bonds but have a neutral impact on liquidity in the banking system.