Asia Pacific

Global banks are facing billions of pounds-worth of civil claims in London and Asia over the rigging of currency markets, following a landmark legal settlement in New York,the Financial Times reported. Barclays, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland were among nine banks revealed last Friday to have agreed a $2bn settlement with thousands of investors affected by rate-rigging in a New York court case.

If finance were a boxing match, then the referee would be getting ready to intervene in emerging markets, the Financial Times reported. Already on the back foot because of fears over tighter US monetary policy, and taking a pounding from sliding commodity prices, the developing world’s stocks, bonds and currencies have just been on the receiving end of a haymaker from China — in the form of its modest but ominous devaluation. The rout has been fierce and broad.

The opening of the $3.5 billion Baha Mar mega-resort in the Bahamas is expected to be delayed beyond the start of the Christmas season, with the developer deep in an escalating legal battle with the Chinese companies that are providing most of the finance and construction work, Reuters reported. Even if construction on the unfinished resort resumed this month, there is little chance the project could be completed by mid-December, the start of the high season for Bahamas resorts, according to local contractors who have worked on the project.

While other countries fret over banks that are too big to fail, South Korea is grappling with the concept of systemically important human beings. Last week President Park Geun-hye announced a special pardon for Chey Tae-won, scion of the founding family of SK Group, South Korea’s third-biggest chaebol conglomerate. Mr Chey was halfway through a four-year jail sentence for embezzling more than $40m from SK companies — his second conviction for defrauding shareholders. But the country’s main business lobby groups campaigned for Mr Chey’s release on the basis of his importance to the economy.

China’s central bank has warned investors to expect more “two-way volatility” in renminbi trading when foreign exchange markets reopen on Monday, less than a week after a 2 per cent downward “adjustment” sparked a week of roller-coaster trading for the currency, the Financial Times reported. In a statement issued on Sunday, Ma Jun, chief economist at the People’s Bank of China, said the Chinese government had “no intention or need to participate in a ‘currency war’”.

New Zealand's debt-laden state-owned coal mining company Solid Energy Ltd was put into administration on Thursday to ward off its creditors as it looks to organise a sale of assets. The government refused to pump in any more money to support the company, which has been crippled by a slump in prices and demand, amassing a mountain of debt. "It is no secret that Solid Energy has faced significant financial hurdles - both from the falling international coal price and its debt burden," Finance Minister Bill English said in a statement.

For years, China looked like the principled noncombatant. As other countries, seeking to secure an economic advantage, let the value of their currencies slide on international markets, China held firm on the value of its money, the International New York Times DealBook blog reported. But this week, China jumped into the fray. In a surprise decision on Tuesday, the country’s authorities devalued its currency, the renminbi, which has now fallen by 4.4 percent against the dollar this week, a huge drop for China.

New Zealand's debt-laden state-owned coal mining company Solid Energy Ltd was put into administration on Thursday to ward off its creditors as it looks to organise a sale of assets. The government refused to pump in any more money to support the company, which has been crippled by a slump in prices and demand, amassing a mountain of debt. "It is no secret that Solid Energy has faced significant financial hurdles - both from the falling international coal price and its debt burden," Finance Minister Bill English said in a statement.

Whenever China’s economy swooned in recent downturns, its currency never buckled. It held steady, or strengthened, even as China’s neighbors or trading partners scrambled to cut the value of their own currencies to deal with the fallout, the International New York Times reported. With the Chinese renminbi now taking its biggest plunge in decades, the worry is that the country’s already slowing economy is even worse off and the government is panicking. By the official measures, the economy is growing at 7 percent, right in line with government targets.

Solid Energy has confirmed it is going into voluntary administration, Stuff.co.nz reported. The state-owned coal company met staff at various sites including the West Coast, Southland and Waikato on Thursday morning, before confirming the news to media in Christchurch at midday. On Thursday, acting chairman Andy Coupe said the board had been considering options since last year due to the "significant" challenges the company was facing. He acknowledged the "very substantial effort" all employees had made over the past few years, but it had not been enough.