• The trading of crude oil futures could begin this year, said Yang Maijun, Head of the Shanghai Futures Exchange. He also suggested that China should publish guidance allowing banks to participate in government bond futures. 
• Qingdao, Chongqing and Guangxi are among the provinces looking to get the green light for their free trade zones in China's third batch of zonal approvals, said delegates at the annual meeting of the National People's Congress (NPC). China will review a proposed amendment to its securities law in April and will look to approve and issue it this year, said Yin Zhongqing, deputy director of the finance and economic committee of the NPC. 
• Net profits of 20 listed brokerages declined to 5.07 billion yuan ($810 million) in February, down 40.4 percent from a month earlier due to the week-long Chinese New Year Holiday. 
• More than 66,000 Chinese died in workplace accidents last year, well below the peak of 240,000 in 2002, but the number was still too high, the State Administration of Work Safety's Director, Yang Dongliang, said.