Asia Pacific

China’s central bank is considering changing the way it calculates banks’ loan-to-deposit ratios, a government official briefed on the matter said, signaling efforts to boost credit as the economy falters. Savings that banks hold for non-deposit-taking financial institutions may be classified as deposits, the person said, declining to be identified as he’s not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. Money that banks lent to such institutions would be classified as loans, according to the official. The changes may take effect Jan. 1.

How can a midsize bank torpedo an entire economy? It was the first question asked by the new president of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, on March 1, 2013, when he assumed power and was immediately confronted with the implosion of Cyprus Popular Bank and the rescue package that followed just two weeks later, the International New York Times DealBook blog reported. To that end, Mr. Anastasiades has since commissioned a 40-page study that examines in detail how the collapse of the second-largest bank in the country could have such a devastating effect on the Cyprus economy.

Kazakhstan's Alliance Bank has completed a $1.2 billion debt restructuring and the country's sovereign wealth fund will put 220 billion tenge ($1.2 billion) of special deposits into the bank to support the deal, Alliance's chief executive said on Wednesday. Alliance Bank next plans to merge with two other Kazakh banks, Temirbank and ForteBank, controlled by Kazakh billionaire Bolat Utemuratov, also a minority stake holder in Alliance, a process which will lead to a number of job losses.

The parent company of Australia’s largest privately owned milk processing company, United Dairy Power (UDP) has been placed in receivership after its banker moved to remove its board and appoint a new CEO to manage its debts, The Australian reported. Insolvency firm PPB and the dairy company’s financier, Rabobank, appointed Marcus Derwin as managing director of Five Star United Food — which controls UDP — last week on the same day the dairy company was placed in receivership.

One Hong Kong-based hedge fund has accumulated the prospectuses of no fewer than 250 of the trust companies that sit at the heart of the Chinese shadow banking system. These contain virtually no disclosure except on the value of the real estate that backs loans whether committed or proposed. In some ways, China today resembles Japan in the early to mid-nineties or the US in 2007 to 2008 on the eve of their respective financial crises, both triggered by overvalued property.

The Singapore arm of bankrupt Danish shipping fuel trader OW Bunker will meet with its liquidator KPMG in early December to discuss the firm's outstanding debt, which totals almost $1.5 billion globally, Reuters reported. OW Bunker, a leading supplier of marine fuel oil known as "bunker", filed for bankruptcy in Denmark earlier this month after it revealed losses of at least $125 million at one of its Singapore-based subsidiaries Dynamic Oil Trading, sending the bunker fuel market into turmoil.

Japan is pushing to rescue its floundering economy with a third big economic stimulus, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prepared to face snap elections amid rising clamor over the wisdom of his “Abenomics” reforms. A surprise announcement early Monday that the economy contracted for a second straight quarter makes it “absolutely necessary to take countermeasures,’’ said Etsuro Honda, an architect of Mr. Abe’s economic policy, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. He called for a new $25 billion in cash handouts and tax cuts.

China’s bad loans jumped by the most since 2005 in the third quarter, fueling concern that a cooling economy will be further weakened as banks limit lending to avoid credit risks, Bloomberg News reported. Nonperforming loans rose 72.5 billion yuan ($11.8 billion) from the previous quarter to 766.9 billion yuan, the China Banking Regulatory Commission said in a statement on Nov. 15. Soured credit accounted for 1.16 percent of lending, up from 1.08 percent three months earlier.

Japan’s economy unexpectedly shrank in the third quarter, according to government data released there on Monday, extending a painful slump triggered by an increase in the national sales tax and making it more likely that policy makers will put off a second tax hike scheduled to take effect next year, the International New York Times reported. The two-stage tax increase has become an all-consuming political issue in Japan, to the point that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is considering dissolving Parliament and calling fresh elections, people close to him say.

Despite Bangladesh Bank efforts in bringing out business from default culture, the uptrend in classified loans continue for the consecutive third quarter in September, the Dhaka Tribune reported. It rose to 11.6% in July-September quarter from 10.75% in the previous quarter, according to Bangladesh Bank data. The rate had dropped to 8.93% in December last from 12.79% in the previous quarter, thanks to huge loan rescheduling taking advantage of a relaxed policy.