Asia Pacific

Australians are experiencing fewer financial crises, new personal insolvency statistics have revealed, The Adviser reported. There were 6,888 personal insolvency incidents in the December 2014 quarter, according to the Australian Financial Security Authority. That marked an 8.1 per cent decline on the December 2013 quarter. Debt agreements climbed 2.5 per cent to 2,655, with South Australia and the Northern Territory reaching all-time highs.

Japanese corporate bankruptcies fell in 2014 to the lowest level since the final year of Japan’s asset bubble, as a government request for banks to alter loan conditions for smaller firms helped companies stay afloat, Bloomberb News reported. Business failures slid 10.4 percent in 2014 from a year earlier to 9,731 cases, the fewest since 1990, Tokyo Shoko Research Ltd. said in Tokyo today. There were no bankruptcies among listed firms last year for the first time in 24 years.

Bonds issued by Kaisa Group rose sharply on Tuesday after the embattled Chinese property developer said it had received a waiver from HSBC Holdings on a loan it failed to repay late last month. Kaisa, which has been struggling with the departure of senior executives, government officials blocking sales at some of its projects in the southern city of Shenzhen and a missed coupon payment on an offshore bond, made the announcement late on Monday. Market participants are watching Kaisa closely as it could become the first Chinese company to make an outright default on its offshore U.S.

While Australia’s commodities boom was running hot, it wasn’t only mining companies that benefited from the billions of dollars in investment pouring into the country. Airlines got a boost, too, The Wall Street Journal reported. That has changed as slumping commodity prices and reduced investment prompt fewer builders and pit-workers to travel to remote mine sites. The result: several operators of smaller aircraft, such as lightweight jets and turboprops, are going bust, while others are warning of a severe hit to profits.

Uncertainty over the law, inexperienced judges and a total lack of precedent have made bankruptcy in Cambodia a decidedly worrisome proposition, The Phnom Penh Post reported. Two years ago yesterday, on January 9, 2013, telecommunications operator MFone filed for insolvency in the Phnom Penh courts. The failure of the company, which had run up too much debt and could no longer compete in the crowded telco sector, left more than 1,000 workers jobless - many of whom hit the streets in protest.

Cyprus has suspended operations at its flag carrier after the European Commission ordered the struggling airline to pay back over 65 million euros in illegal state aid, Reuters reported. The last Cyprus Airways flight will take place Friday night, government officials said. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Cyprus Airways had no chance of becoming viable without continued state subsidies, meaning money paid out in 2012 and 2013 as part of a restructuring package would have to be recovered. The restructuring plan was "based on unrealistic assumptions" the EU Commission said.

As Chinese individuals and companies head overseas in greater numbers, the country’s tax authorities are starting to follow, the International New York Times reported. The Beijing billionaires who set up cryptically named companies in the British Virgin Islands to hold their fortunes are in the cross hairs. So are the Guangdong salesmen living and working in Africa and Latin America. China’s tax officials are now demanding that citizens start reporting exactly how much money they earn overseas.

A local court said Wednesday it has decided to commence a receivership program for midsize South Korean builder Dongbu Corp., which has recently been hit by financial troubles amid a slump in the construction industry, the Yonhap News Agency reported. The decision by the Seoul Central District Court came just a week after the construction arm of the country's 18th-largest conglomerate Dongbu Group filed for the receivership program after admitting it was unable to repay the 261.8 billion won (US$238 million) it had borrowed from local banks.

Troubled regional carrier Skytrans has been put in voluntary administration as company executives seek to find work for laid off staff, The Courier Mail reported. illiam Fletcher and Tracy Lee Knight of Brisbane-based Bentleys Chartered Accountants have been appointed administrators of the Cairns-based carrier with a formal notice to be issued to creditors later this week. The administrators were unavailable for comment yesterday.

More South Korean households are piling on debt at the fastest rate in a decade as the government is using credit to stimulate sluggish consumption, the Financial Times reported. Choi Kyung-hwan, who took office as finance minister in July, has launched a $40bn stimulus package, warning of Japan-style stagnation taking hold in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.