Bank of Cyprus, one of the biggest casualties of the eurozone financial crisis, can once again offer investors a dividend after repaying its “monstrous” emergency funding almost a year ahead of schedule, the Financial Times reported. The Cypriot bank rose to prominence in 2013 when it used deposits of above €100,000 to help fund its rescue deal, the first example of the “bail in” that the EU hoped to use so taxpayers would no longer carry the can for failed banks.

Global markets spent most of 2016 adjusting to the reality of a slow but steady weakening of China’s currency, the International New York Times DealBook blog reported. Now, Beijing appears uncomfortable with that state of affairs. Financial regulators in recent days have introduced new rules to curb the amount of capital flowing out of the country, helping to slow the pace of the renminbi’s decline. They issued stricter rules on the movement of renminbi offshore for conversion into dollars.

India lowered its borrowing plan for the year ending March 31 by 4.2%, in a sign that the government’s crackdown on tax evaders is helping to increase New Delhi’s coffers, The Wall Street Journal reported. The government says it plans to cut the amount it borrows by 180 billion rupees ($2.64 billion) from its earlier estimate of about 4.25 trillion rupees. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November announced a plan to withdraw and replace 500- and 1,000-rupee notes in an effort to cut tax evasion, terrorism and government corruption.

Reeling under a huge debt burden of Rs 50,000 crore, the sugar industry today asked the government to restructure debt and extend interest subvention on soft loans for another three years, the Business Standard reported. A representation in this regard has been made to the PMO as well as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley recently by both private and cooperative sugar mills bodies -- Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) and National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories.

Demonetisation has gripped India’s collective mind; and its banks’ attention of late, livemint.com reported in a commentary. Nevertheless, in the year past, much has transpired on the insolvency reform front, including a new Insolvency Code and asset reconstruction licences, and the Bankruptcy Board’s arrival with a bang. The orientation towards action is positive, and speaks of a refusal to permit the “perfect to be the enemy of the good”.

When China’s stock market and currency both plunged last January, many global investors assumed the end was near. After years of debt-fuelled stimulus used to fund investment in housing, infrastructure and excess manufacturing capacity, many believed the bubble was finally bursting, the Financial Times reported. It didn’t. China’s economy is expected to have met the government’s target of at least 6.5 per cent growth of gross domestic product for 2016. The stock market has stabilised and is up 19 per cent since its low point in late January 2016.

Pumpkin Patch owes its bank nearly $60 million and its unsecured creditors another $13.2m. A receivers' report by Brendon Gibson and Neale Jackson of KordaMentha shows the children's clothing company, which was put into receivership in October, owed $59.5m, chiefly to the ANZ. Preferred creditors, largely the 1600 staff it employed in the lead-up to its receivership, were still owed $1.5m. Inland Revenue had not submitted a claim yet. It was too early to say whether the $13.2m owed to unsecured creditors could be retrieved, the report said.

Soaring price growth in China’s top cities has slowed almost to a standstill, as government measures to cool the overheated property market take hold, the Financial Times reported. Price growth of newly built homes in China’s “first tier” cities of Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Guangzhou slowed to 0.1 per cent in November compared with the previous month, the National Statistics Bureau said on Monday — well below month-on-month growth of 3-4 per cent seen in such cities earlier this year.

Takata Corp.’s selection of a potential buyer will miss the year-end target as the shortlisted bidders need more time to review the air-bag maker pummeled by a record auto-safety recall of its products, according to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported. The successful bidder may be named in the January-to-March quarter, the people said, asking not to be identified as the negotiations are private. Takata and its financial adviser Lazard Ltd. have asked prospective buyers to complete the due diligence in February, two of the people said.

Thailand's Central Bankruptcy Court has approved a business plan for Sahaviriya Steel Industries Pcl (SSI), Thailand's biggest steel maker, to restructure debts worth 69.2 billion baht ($1.94 billion), Reuters reported. The court cleared SSI to implement the restructuring plan after some 91.90 percent of its creditors voted in favour in September, SSI said in a statement on Thursday. Progress on restructuring SSI's debt will be positive for the Thai banking sector as bank creditors will be able to reduce reserves related to SSI loans.