Top banks like ICBC and China Construction Bank are offering LGFVs loans with ultra-long maturities and temporary interest relief to prevent a credit crunch amid growing tension in the US$9 trillion debt market.

Investment bankers got busier arranging more bond deals in Hong Kong while the IPO market slumped to the lowest level since the severe acute respiratory syndrome or Sars struck the city in 2003.

Singaporean banking giant OCBC Group plans to expand in China and Southeast Asia in a bid to capture the strengthening trade relationships and growing demand for wealth management in the area, its CEO said on Monday.

Piyush Gupta has built DBS into Singapore’s largest listed company, and Southeast Asia’s largest bank by assets. That very success is creating an elephant in the room.

The city state’s deputy prime minister – widely seen as its next leader-in-waiting – will become chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte’s investment strategies committee.

Mutual fund sales bounced back strongly in the first quarter after the worst net outflow on record last year as market sentiment improved amid a more stable interest rate environment, according to fund managers and regulators.

People’s Bank of China promises ‘comprehensive measures’ to prevent wild swings in the exchange rate as the yuan approaches a key psychological threshold.

The government of Huangpu district, which forms part of Shanghai’s urban core, plans to launch an investment fund to support promising technology firms based in its 20.5 sq km area.

Executives say morale has plummeted since an overhaul was announced in March.

Argentina will start to accept China’s yuan for deposit-taking in savings and current accounts as the South American nation is battling a dwindling supply of US dollars.

Hong Kong fell to ninth place in a global ranking of IPO venues, but analysts are optimistic the city can repeat last year’s performance and make a strong comeback in the second half of 2023.

A partnership formed in 2016 by Alberta Industrial Heartland and Hong Kong-based private equity firm Can-China Global Resource Fund ‘no longer exists’, a spokeswoman for the non-profit said.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, which runs Asia’s third largest stock market, has signed agreements with Beijing Stock Exchange and the government of Ningbo this week to explore ways to make it easier for start-ups and high-quality companies to list here, the bourse operator said on Thursday.

China’s yuan has weakened by 4.7 per cent against the US dollar since the start of the year, but the central bank has refrained from direct intervention.

The 23 largest US banks passed the Federal Reserve’s stress tests, indicating resilience in the banking system despite the crisis that led to the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank.

Chinese developers are making slow progress with their debt restructuring and chances of them getting back on track are slim, Moody’s said in a report on Wednesday.

Sri Lankan Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Sabry expressed frustration about the time it took his nation to receive help when it was grappling with a debt crisis during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday.

Mitsubishi CEO’s total compensation was US$1.8 million for the year ending in March, compared to JPMorgan Chase’s chief who was paid US$34.5 million last year.

A new digital interface set to launch in October will cut the time between IPO pricing and commencement of trade from five business days to two, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) said in an announcement on Wednesday.

While Insilico has not announced an IPO timetable or amount, sources say the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park-based firm hopes to raise US$200 million.

Four listed builders in China have received approvals for their equity financing plans, indicating that Beijing’s ‘third arrow’ of policy support for property developers is finally in the works seven months after it was introduced.

As data security rules make operating in China ‘very painful’, financial lobby group ASIFMA calls for clearer, tailor-made rules to enable cross-border sharing of data in the financial sector.

The cash-strapped South Asian nation is closing its banks from Thursday to begin a restructuring process linked to the US$2.9 billion loan it received from the IMF earlier this year.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has proposed major changes in the city’s three-tier banking system for the first time in four decades in a move that would eliminate the smallest category of lender altogether.

The governments of the two regions signed multiple agreements on Monday promising cooperation in areas including finance, education, aviation and new energy.

HSBC will move to smaller offices in the City of London ahead of its lease expiring in 2027, as it looks to cut costs as more of its staff embrace hybrid working.