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Good morning.

From the Newsroom of the Financial Times. Today is Monday

January 14th and this is your FT news briefing. Today regulatory

roadblocks for Visa and Mastercard in China, Emmanuel McCrone's latest effort to satisfy the Jilejeune

protesters, and how the U.S. government shut down might soon start to hurt Wall Street.

Then the F.T.'s Jim Pickard lays out the week ahead for Brexit.

I'm Eric Krupky and here's the news you need to start your day.

The FT reports that Credit Card Company's Visa and MasterCard submitted applications

to the People's Bank of China to process Renminbi payments more than a year ago.

But according to two people familiar with the matter, China's Central Bank has not acknowledged

those applications. Rules passed in 2017 were meant to remove obstacles for foreign companies

participating in the Chinese market.

The People's Bank of China is the largest shareholder in China Union Pay,

which is a financial services company that effectively has a monopoly on Remmbi Bank Card payments in China.

The US has been trying to get greater market access for American financial services

companies, but the refusal could cause trouble in trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing. The religion protests in France have been going on now for nine consecutive weeks.

The protest started as a grassroots rebellion against fuel taxes, but now they've turned into a broader cry

against the unpopular French president Emmanuel Macron. Now Mr Macron will try to

end the anti-government protests with a national debate.

...