Asia Pacific

The death of Timaru financier Allan Hubbard makes little difference to the ongoing sale of his businesses - but compassion is being exercised, The New Zealand Herald reported. Kerryn Downey, South Canterbury Finance receiver at McGrathNicol with William Black, said SCF staff numbers were gradually being reduced, offices in three main centres were being sold and negotiations were continuing over further asset sales. The process is continuing according to plan despite the death, but Downey indicated he was taking an empathic approach.

Two directors of the failed Nathans Finance company have been sentenced to terms of imprisonment in the High Court at Auckland today, while one of their colleagues will serve a term of home detention, The New Zealand Herald reported. Company chairman Kenneth (Roger) Moses has been sent to jail for two years and two months and ordered to pay $425,000 in reparations. Fellow director Mervyn Doolan has been sentenced to two years and four months jail time, with reparations of $150,000.

As policy makers from the U.S. and Europe gathered in Jackson Hole, Wyo., to discuss ways to revive a fragile global recovery, China's central bank was issuing a secret memo to further rein in lending in the world's second-largest economy, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Wellington property developer Terry Serepisos has had bankruptcy proceedings against him adjourned so he can organise the sell-down of over $230 million worth of property, The National Business Review reported. John Billington, Mr Serepisos' new lawyer, told the Wellington High Court today that his client wants to work with insolvency specialists to sell his property portfolio, which includes about 150 residential properties and six significant commercial properties, all in Wellington.

China broadened the base of reserves it requires commercial lenders to deposit with the central bank to control liquidity and limit inflation, economists said, Bloomberg reported. Reserve requirements are being extended to customers’ margin deposits, a move that may drain 900 billion yuan ($140 billion) from the banking system over six months, Bank of America Merrill Lynch economist Lu Ting said in an e-mailed note on Aug. 26. Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd. cited similar information.

Troubled Wellington property developer Terry Serepisos has been given a bit more time to convince creditors he can orchestrate an orderly sale of his assets with a surplus of some $30 million, The New Zealand Herald reported. Associate Judge David Gendall granted an adjournment for bankruptcy proceedings against Serepisos in the High Court in Wellington today after receiving a proposal on Friday that will leave assets worth some $232.5 million in the hands of two experienced insolvency practitioners to sell them over the next few years.

China's big banks reported hefty profits in the first half of this year, but signs of strain are showing from their massive lending binges and as they struggle to meet tougher capital requirements, The Wall Street Journal reported. Profits of the nation's five biggest banks by assets, led by Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., were buoyed in part by a greater focus on business that generates fee income, such as credit cards and wealth-management products.

Financial authorities have vowed to throw everything they have at the country’s consumer debt mountain, which now threatens to outstrip an entire year’s gross domestic product (GDP). But to the majority of observers, it appears the officials are doing nothing at all, if not actually making things worse, The Korea Times reported. It was two months ago when the Financial Services Commission (FSC) announced a fresh set of measures to tackle the increasing problem of personal indebtedness, aimed at assisting households in repaying loans and suppressing irresponsible lending by banks.

The Queensland Government says there was nothing it could do to prevent one of the biggest tourism developments at Airlie Beach, in the Whitsundays region of the state's north, from going into receivership, ABC News reported. Administrators took control of the $200 million Meridien Marinas Port of Airlie project earlier this week. The development includes 56 apartments, 15 beachfront land lots, marina berths and a retail and dining precinct.

Korea’s increasingly toxic housing market is now threatening to wipe out the cream of the crop in its construction industry, a private think-tank claims. High on the endangered list are builders like Daewoo, Lotte, Ssangyong, Halla, Kolon and Keangnam, The Korea Times reported.