UPDATE 1-PRESS DIGEST - China - April 16

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BEIJING/SHANGHAI, April 16 (Reuters) - Chinese newspapers available in Beijing and Shanghai carried the following stories on Wednesday. Reuters has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS

-- The China Banking Regulatory Commission will speed up efforts toward implementation of new Basel capital adequacy rules.

-- Zhengzhou Coal Industry & Electric Power Co (600121.SS) said it will acquire coal and related assets from its parent company, via a private placement of no more than 400 million of its shares at 15.46 yuan per share.

-- China Merchants Bank (600036.SS) (3968.HK) said it had received regulatory approval to set up a leasing firm.

-- Property developer Gemdale Corp (600383.SS) said its sales in March rose 113.30 percent on a floor-area basis to 143,000 square metres and 223.86 percent on a value basis to 1.485 billion yuan ($212.4 million).

-- China is likely to announce a restructuring plan for the country's telecommunications industry and a reshuffling of senior posts at major telecoms operators.

-- Shenzhen-based developer Flower Times Group plans to raise HK$3.9 billion ($500 million) through an initial public offering in Hong Kong in the third quarter of this year.

CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL

-- Tsingtao Brewery Co (600600.SS) has raised 1.5 billion yuan by selling convertible bonds with detachable warrants, and will use the proceeds to expand capacity. It will also need to pay back-taxes worth 135 million yuan for the first nine months of 2007.

SECURITIES TIMES

-- Seven Chinese companies, including China Telecom (0728.HK), have received approval to sell a combined 39.2 billion yuan of medium-term bills.

FINANCIAL NEWS

-- The head of the central bank's Xi'an branch said monetary policy tightening is being tested by unquenched local demand for new projects and bank credit in the western province of Shaanxi.

-- The China Banking Regulatory Commission has disclosed several problems in China's booming wealth-management product market, including insufficient disclosure of information.