Proposed new obligations on multinationals to produce country-by-country reports on their financial affairs will have a “massive impact” on them, a leading member of the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation has said, the Irish Times reported. Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the Center for Tax Policy and Administration at the OECD, was reacting to what he said were “angry responses” to the organisation’s latest proposals on the topic.

The headline currency story of this year is about the negotiations between Greece and the “institutions” over whether its currency remains internationally usable . Much less noticed are the negotiations between China, which is about a hundred times larger than Greece, and the legacy financial powers over the degree to which the renminbi becomes more internationally usable. While renminbi internationalisation is a process, not an event, an announcement is being orchestrated for September.

A Melbourne-based clothing manufacturer and wholesaler founded in 1996 has entered voluntary administration, SmartCompany.com.au reported. LM Australasia started out producing and wholesale women’s lingerie before growing into a fashion house that specialised in seamless garments, including knitwear, tops, leggings and shapewear. The business is based in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood and, in 2010, employed 20 staff in Australia. At the time it also had an office in China, with a staff of 10.

As an industrialist in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi recounts his woes, from frequent power cuts to a shortage of trained workers, his accountant barges in with a question. “Sir, how much should we earn from the farm this year?” the Financial Times reported. “Let me see how much we need to earn from the farm and get back to you,” the industrialist replies. The encounter provides a glimpse of one of Pakistan’s toughest economic challenges: reforming its chronically dysfunctional tax-collection system.

Australia’s corporate regulator is to launch a crackdown on the country’s banking culture, which it claims is encouraging misconduct and the “fleecing” of consumers, the Financial Times reported. The intervention by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission follows a series of banking scandals and new research showing that a poor risk culture at financial institutions is allowing misconduct and “Machiavellian” tendencies to flourish.

Australia is raising its minimum wage by an above-inflation 2.5 per cent, providing a boost to low-paid workers amid sluggish economic growth, the Financial Times reported. From next month about 1.86m workers must be paid a weekly wage of at least A$656.90 ($501.50), Australia’s workplace regulator ruled on Tuesday. On an hourly basis the rate rises to A$17.29 an hour, one of the highest minimum wage levels in the world.

A profitable Chinese duck processing company has defaulted on its debts after banks refused to roll over its loans — in a sign of lenders’ wariness over refinancings as China’s economy slows, the Financial Times reported. Until recently, Chinese banks have been reluctant to write off big debts, preferring to keep businesses alive by rolling over their loans. But privately owned Zhongao has cited banks’ tighter lending policies as a reason why it lacked the funds to repay Rmb282m ($45m) in principal and interest despite turning a profit last year.

Aircraft leasing firm Intrepid Aviation Ltd, the biggest creditor of Skymark Airlines, is seeking another sponsor for the failed budget carrier instead of ANA Holdings, court documents showed. Intrepid's search is part of a restructuring plan for Skymark filed at a Tokyo court on Friday, the same day the budget carrier filed a rival proposal that hinged on ANA buying a 16.5 percent stake. Intrepid's filing, seen by Reuters on Monday, did not name any other potential sponsors and did not say why the company opposed ANA's sponsorship.

Corporate insolvency is expected to rise this year in the mainland and Hong Kong, with an increasing number of companies struggling to protect margins from late payments by customers, the South China Morning Post reported. Even as the economy continues to grow at a relatively good pace, mainland firms are grappling with a state-driven shift in economic structure. This would inevitably lead to shrinking business opportunities in sectors such as construction, cement and steel, pushing up defaults in these areas, said Dutch trade credit insurer Atradius.

The rising number of tips from the Chinese public alleging official malfeasance highlights the popularity of the country’s anticorruption campaign, even as the leadership may be shifting gears on the crackdown, The Wall Street Journal reported. Almost daily, the Communist Party’s antigraft body publishes data that show the number of officials investigated and punished is rising, including the detention of 19 top executives from state-run companies between March and April.