Asia Pacific

Madrid has been forced to make an embarrassing clarification after claims that Spain had secured from China up to €9bn in investment in its troubled savings banks were denied by Beijing, the Financial Times reported. Spanish officials said an “error of communication” had led to reports that China Investment Corporation – one of the country’s sovereign wealth funds – was considering a €9bn investment after José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spain’s prime minister, met Chinese leaders this week. A CIC official told Reuters that reports in the Spanish media of the investment were false.

Chinese banks may have to raise about 860 billion yuan ($131 billion) of stock over six years to meet stricter capital rules, according to estimates from the industry regulator, a person with knowledge of the matter said, Bloomberg reported. Lenders are likely to need an additional 1.26 trillion yuan in supplementary capital by the end of 2016, the person said, declining to be named because the calculations aren’t public. The estimates, compiled in January, assume economic growth of 8 percent a year and 15 percent credit expansion, the person said.

Debt has forced a major Australian vegetable grower of tomatoes, capsicums and zucchinis into receivership, The Australian reported. Barbera Farms employs more than 500 people and grows produce at Bundaberg and Childers in southern Queensland and Bowen in the state's north. The receivers, Justin Walsh and Chris Munday, partners at accounting firm Ernst & Young, expect the farm will sell within months.

The world's biggest economies hope to make progress this week on a plan to identify countries that put the global economy at risk, while China warned against any moves that would curb its red-hot growth, Reuters reported. The meeting of the Group of 20 rich and emerging-market nations comes at a time of conflicting economic signals. Just as signs of a strengthening recovery in some rich countries have pushed their central banks to begin to pull back on economic supports, world markets have been rocked by fears that high oil prices will put the brakes on global growth.

South Korea's central bank left interest rates unchanged as expected Tuesday, opting to take stock after inflation pressures showed signs of moderating in March, but hinted afterward that it's likely to resume tightening in the coming months, The Wall Street Journal reported. The vote to keep the base rate steady at 3% was not unanimous, said Bank of Korea Governor Kim Choong-soo at a media briefing. He added that the central bank is "very determined" to keep normalizing its policy rate.

Allied Farmers, the finance company hobbled by the collapse in value of its loan book, may not be able to repay $7.5 million owed to its failed Allied Nationwide Finance unit when it comes due on July 1, The New Zealand Herald reported. Managing director Rob Alloway is seeking talks with the receivers of ANF about the potential default, which would be the third such event. The ANF receivers, Kerryn Downey and Andrew Grenfell of McGrath Nicol, have reserved their position and are considering options, according to Alloway's statement.

The number of Japanese corporate bankruptcies is likely to rise after the summer on the impact from last month's devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami, a research firm said on Friday, with the effects of government spending on disaster relief expected to take some time to filter through, Reuters reported. The number of bankruptcies fell 9.9 percent in March from a year earlier to 1,183 cases, with six attributed to the impact from the quake and tsunami, Tokyo Shoko Research showed.

Takefuji Corp. said Monday that it has granted South Korean consumer lender A&P Financial Co. preferential negotiating rights to take over the failed Japanese consumer lender in what would be one of the biggest acquisitions by a South Korean firm of a Japanese company, but the unexpected development is leading bondholders and a rival bidder to question the way the lender's court administrators have handled the sale process, The Wall Street Journal reported.

A possible bailout of AMI Insurance will see the Government pump up to $500 million of equity into the ailing insurer and hold the right to take control of the company. But the final cost could be double that, The National Business Review reported. Finance Minister Bill English announced the support package today saying it would only be called on as a last resort if the insurer's reserves were exhausted.

Japan Airlines on Wednesday said it is seeking 200 employees to volunteer for unpaid leave, as it tries to cut costs due to falling travel demand after the March 11 disasters and amid a nuclear crisis, Agence France-Presse reported. The appeal comes just after the airline finally moved out of bankruptcy following its spectacular collapse that led it to go cap-in-hand to the government. "Due to a drop in visitors and cutbacks in routes, we are seeking 200 pilots and flight attendants to volunteer for a month of unpaid leave," said Japan Airlines spokesman Taro Namba.