Asia Pacific

China’s shadow banking sector continued to grow at breakneck speed in 2013 and now ranks as the third largest in the world, a report released by the Financial Stability Board showed on Thursday, the Irish Times reported. The country vaulted ahead in the rankings under a new, more targeted definition of shadow banking adopted by the FSB, a task force set up by G20 economies in the wake of the 2008/09 global financial crisis to improve financial regulations.

Multiple major client losses have forced Sumo Visual Group, one of Australia’s biggest retail signage printers, into administration, only six months after making a big kit investment, ProPrint reported. The $30m-a-year 60-staff company with operations in Melbourne and Sydney entered voluntary administration on Tuesday under PPB Advisory. Sources close to the company say a big retail client recently jumped ship to a competitor while another switched out the vast majority of its work, and resulting cashflow issues led to the printer’s predicament.

Chaori Solar’s default on its Rmb1.09 billion ($195 million) bond may not lead to an acceptable template for resolving similar issues, Finance Asia reported. The Shenzhen-listed solar company, which in March became the first Chinese company to default on its onshore corporate bonds, is likely to see the bond bailed out by state-owned enterprises.

While multinationals have been bleating about tumbling sales in China, official retail data from the world’s second-biggest economy tells a more robust story. What gives? The correct read on Chinese shoppers’ propensity to buy is key both for the companies who are increasingly dependent upon the market and for the country itself: consumption, billed as a new growth engine, is required to offset the slowdown in investment.

Indian banks have only two quarters left to restructure stressed assets without significantly dragging down their profits—a fact that’s prompting banks to step up the recast of loans that may eventually need restructuring, Livemint.com reported. Effective 1 April 2015, the Reserve Bank of India’s regulatory forbearance, under which banks were allowed to qualify restructured assets as standard, will come to an end. For now banks are setting aside 5% of the value of the loan to cover the risk of default on any restructured assets.

When Chinese property developer Agile Property Holdings Ltd. said this month that its chairman was taken into custody by authorities, the disclosure was a shock to Western banks that lent the company money, The Wall Street Journal reported. Foreign lenders in China have been stung by a string of suspected fraud cases and problem loans in the country as Beijing investigates company executives and seizes assets in a crackdown on corruption. Agile Property has a large debt payment due in December and has been scrambling to raise funds.

The finance ministry yesterday handed parties the drafts of three bills concerning the insolvency framework, seen as providing an extra ‘safety net’ to debtors who have fallen on hard times, CyprusMail reported. The framework will be made up of six bills. The ministry has asked party experts to a meeting on October 31 to discuss the drafts, just as the Supreme Court is expected to hand down a verdict on the validity of the foreclosures bill demanded by the troika of international lenders.

The Cabinet yesterday green-lighted the establishment of a project team tasked with implementing new insolvency procedures, CyprusMail reported. According to a statement, the team will comprise of at least three officers from the Department of Companies and Official Receiver, as well as the finance ministry, which is the project manager.

CSA Czech Airlines said that its key shareholder Korean Air Lines Ltd. has agreed to inject fresh capital into the country’s flagship carrier as it seeks to overcome its current financial struggles, The Wall Street Journal Emerging Europe blog reported. “The offered sum is within expectations of CSA laid out in the company’s restructuring plan,” CSA Czech Airlines’ spokesman Daniel Sabik told the Wall Street Journal Thursday, referring to the required maximum financing needs that in September were estimated at about $20 million.

Wellington-based aviation company Vincent Aviation, which has about 30 workers, has gone into receivership, Stuff.co.nz reported. In a public notice released today, Stephen Tubbs from BDO was appointed receiver of the company, which was established in 1990 and is based at Wellington Airport. The move comes after an application to liquidate the company was lodged last week lodged in the High Court by ANCL Investments. Owner Peter Vincent said last week that the action taken by ANCL Investments was a "serious situation" for his company.