At least Beijing isn’t wasting its crisis. China fired a double-barreled easing shot after its stock market plunged yet again Tuesday. This included an interest-rate cut and a reduction of bank reserve-requirement ratios, both aimed at both cushioning the stock-market fall and spurring the real economy. But in a significant long-term move, the central bank took another step toward liberalizing interest rates. The People’s Bank of China said banks would now be free to offer what they wanted on rates for one-year deposits. These apply to accounts in which savers must keep their money in the bank for a year, similar to a certificate of deposit. That follows a move in May, when the PBOC gave banks additional leeway—though not total freedom—to set deposit rates on short-duration deposit accounts. Letting banks set their own deposit rates is the final step in China’s shift from a command-and-control banking system to […]