The Macau Metro Monitor, May 16, 2012

STUDIO CITY TO RECEIVE CASINO APPROVAL "SOON": REPORT Macau Business

According to Business Daily, MPEL will receive government permission for a casino at MSC “very soon.”  The report quotes a source as saying that “the casino permission is just a formality and will happen very soon.”

ADDITIONAL BORDER CHECKPOINT TO BE BUILT Macau Daily News

Macau and Guangdong Province announced the construction of a new border crossing checkpoint connecting Zhuhai and Macau, to ease the burden of Gongbei border gate.  The new border checkpoint, pending the approval of the central government, will be located on a land plot currently hosting the South Guangdong Wholesale Market on the Macau side.

Daily traffic of the checkpoint is expected to be around 200,000 arrivals, and together with the expansion of the current border crossing checkpoint, the checkpoints will be able to cater up to 700,000 visitors.

CHINA FOUR LARGEST BANKS ISSUE ALMOST ZERO NEW YUAN LOANS Shanghai Securities New

A source familiar with the matter tells the Shanghai Securities News that two of the four largest banks posted ~CNY10BN and "several billions" in new yuan loans respectively, but the remaining two banks posted negative growth in new yuan loans, leading to almost zero new yuan loans for the four banks through May 13th. The source also adds that the four banks' deposits have declined by ~CNY200BN as of May 13.