The world’s leading experiment in monetary easing is floundering, and its engineers are divided over how to get it on track, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Bank of Japan has tried radical measures for 3½ years to reflate the country’s sagging economy, resorting this year to negative interest rates. Growth and inflation remain elusive. Now the bank’s board, while still in favor of easing, has some members wanting to revise the methods for doing so—likely sparking uncertainty for economy-watchers and worries for investors.

The Hanjin Shipping Company filed for bankruptcy in South Korea on Aug. 31, and sought recognition of that bankruptcy in the United States under Chapter 15 of the bankruptcy code, which governs such matters. In the meantime, there has been apparent chaos as ships have been milling about off shore, stranding cargo and crew and even a filmmaker in a kind of insolvency limbo, the International New York Times DealBook blog reported. Perhaps what is most surprising about this entire event is the apparent lack of planning that went into this bankruptcy case.

A Singapore-based shipping trust that operates container ships is asking creditors for leniency on about $253 million of debt, in the latest sign of debt woes in the industry and in the city-state, the Times of Oman reported. Rickmers Maritime won’t be able to repay $179.7 million of senior debt due in March 2017 and the interest and principal on S$100 million ($73.3 million) of notes due in May 2017, it said in an investor presentation filed to the Singapore Exchange on Thursday.

Some analysts expect the Bank of Japan to fire another blast of monetary stimulus at the end of its two-day policy meeting on Sept. 21. Others see a central bank with little if any ammunition left -- or one turned gun-shy, Bloomberg News reported. For some economists, the BOJ’s decision to undertake a comprehensive review of its easing program to be concluded at the meeting underscored its struggle to hit the 2 percent inflation target, and bolstered arguments that it had reached the limits of its powers.

Since China was the first country to use paper money it shouldn’t be a surprise that it was also guilty, earlier than most, of monetary recklessness, The Wall Street Journal reported.

China's economic growth accelerated in August, a batch of data showed on Tuesday, relieving pressure on policymakers to boost stimulus and assuaging fears of a sharp slowdown that would drag down global growth, the Financial Times reported. Industrial production, a gauge of the crucial manufacturing sector, grew 6.3 per cent annually in August, the fastest pace since March. Retail sales growth accelerated to 10.6 per cent in August, up from 10.2 per cent in July, led by auto sales, which rose 13.1 per cent.

Shanghai police say they have found the root of rumors that sparked a home-buying frenzy in late August and led to instability in the city’s real-estate market, The Wall Street Journal China Real Time Report blog reported. It began, police said, with a woman who said she had a tip that the city government was mulling changes to home-buying rules.

The chairman of Hanjin Group transferred 40 billion won ($36 million) to Hanjin Shipping on Tuesday to help unload cargo stranded on the troubled shipper's vessels, a spokesman said, but regulators warned securing further funds could take "considerable time". Hanjin Group, the parent of Hanjin Shipping, pledged last week to raise 100 billion won to help rescue cargo in the wake of the collapse of the world's seventh-biggest container shipper, including the 40 billion won from Chairman Cho Yang-ho.

Amid mounting corporate debts and defaults, China's banking regulator has stepped into the fray, urging banks that are creditors of heavily indebted companies to coordinate their actions and negotiate together. The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) issued a notice on Friday that told banks to set up creditor committees not only to protect their rights but also, when possible, to help companies struggling to repay their debts to get back on their feet. Although the notice was aimed at banks, other financial institutions approved by the CBRC can also participate.

A key member of South Korea’s Hanjin Group agreed Saturday to a conditional bailout of the group’s shipping unit, whose collapse has sparked turmoil worldwide on the high seas. The board of group unit Korean Air, meeting for the third straight day, decided to lend 60 billion won ($55 million) to Hanjin Shipping, two thirds of whose cargo fleet is marooned at sea due to huge debts, Gulf News Shipping reported. “The board members decided to provide the loan but only in exchange for collateral (from Hanjin Shipping),” a company spokeswoman told AFP.