Meanwhile, BlackRock has for the first time publicly backed the inclusion of onshore stocks in MSCI’s indices, and Chinese officials have even criticised dividend-dodging companies, dubbed “iron cockerels”, and promised extra scrutiny. Some, it noted, have not paid out a penny in 20-plus years of listed existence.

With a very optimistic squint, one might read the collected actions as signs of an investor-friendly, western-style package of reforms. That would be misleading. But they do represent the ongoing process of developing China’s markets and linking them to the international system — one small tweak or reform at a time. For international investors, the easing of capital controls is the most eye-catching change, reflecting their ability to withdraw funds invested — a key concern cited last year by MSCI when it decided A-shares were not yet fit for inclusion.

Essentially, Beijing has stepped back from a one-out one-in policy, introduced earlier this year, when outgoing cross-border payments in renminbi had to be at least matched by inflows. Given it is easier to convert renminbi offshore, the channel was an important conduit for outflows. It was also a key source of liquidity in the offshore renminbi market, centred in Hong Kong.

“While regulators have no intention of stopping genuine trade, increased scrutiny of cross-border [activity] has delayed transactions,” said Nathan Chow at DBS.

As of February, renminbi deposits in Hong Kong were half their Rmb1tn ($145bn) peak reached in December 2014. Renminbi payments suffered too: data showed just 16.7 per cent of China’s goods trade was settled in the currency in February, down from 24 per cent a year earlier.

“It is too early to say this is a turning point [but] we believe that this at least shows that China is still keen to push forward with renminbi internationalisation,” said Hao Zhou, strategist at Commerzbank.

The stream of orders, largely from the China Banking Regulatory Commission, has taken some by surprise. While some have focused on the shadow banking sector and wealth management products, others have concentrated on the interbank market, underlining Beijing’s focus this year on deleveraging and the role that this kind of regulatory tightening can play.

One move from China’s central clearing agency raised the standards for collateral permitted in exchange-traded repo transactions. This is expected to increase costs for lower rated bonds — which many analysts think is long overdue.

The most straightforward of all the recent changes would be MSCI’s inclusion of mainland A-shares in its global indices, should it go ahead. A decision from the index provider is due in June, and BlackRock’s public support for inclusion is a powerful endorsement from the world’s largest fund manager. The importance of MSCI inclusion is not only sheer weight of money that follows its indices, although at $1.5tn for its benchmark Emerging Markets one, these are considerable. The real significance is that a decision in favour would make MSCI the first major index provider to commit directly to include mainland assets.