Asia Pacific

All Nippon Airways Co. sees the bankruptcy of Japan Airlines Corp. as an opportunity to grow its international business significantly and emerge even stronger than its larger rival, a top executive said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal Friday. "We need to get stronger when they are sick," said Keisuke Okada, an ANA board member and executive vice president of alliances and international affairs.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) placed the Apex Rural Bank (Bulacan), Inc. under receivership, the first one to be taken over by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. this year, BusinessWorld reported. "Notice is hereby given that the Monetary Board decided to prohibit the Apex Rural Bank from doing business in the Philippines and to place its assets and affairs under receivership," it said in a directive. The supervision and examination sector of the BSP, however, declined to disclose details on the Apex Rural Bank’s financial condition.

A pillar of Japan Inc. founded in 1951 to help the country rise from the ashes of World War II, Asia's largest airline by revenue sought court protection from creditors on Tuesday to grapple with a debt load of $25 billion, a level well above its cash flow, The Wall Street Journal reporeted. Japan's new government played a big role in steering the company toward bankruptcy protection and portrayed the moves—despite the new subsidies—as an early sign of how economic policy making is changing since the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party lost power four months ago.

Ten stores from the Stax women's clothing chain have gone into receivership, The New Zealand Herald reported. About half the chain, those stores owned by Topsco International NZ Ltd are being close, while the rest are unaffected. Kenneth Brown and Paul Manning of RHB Accountants have been appointed receivers. The Stax website lists 21 stores across New Zealand. Stax's website says it has "no collection to display" under the "Season's Collections" tab. It also says a new website is about to be launched.

Alarmed by the amount of government involvement in Japan Airlines Corp.'s restructuring, the president of rival All Nippon Airways Co. ratcheted up warnings Wednesday that the state-supported overhaul could undermine competition in the airline industry, The Wall Street Journal reported. ANA President and Chief Executive Shinichiro Ito said his greatest concern is that fierce price competition could break out once JAL receives a government-backed lifeline of $10 billion to support its ailing operations. Mr.

Chinese regulators have told some banks to temporarily halt lending amid growing fears of asset bubbles and inflation. The renewed efforts to rein in credit growth follow a burst of frantic lending activity by Chinese banks that have raised concerns about overheating in the Chinese economy. In the first two weeks of January alone, banks extended as much as Rmb1,100bn ($161bn) in new loans, analysts and bankers told the Financial Times. If banks were to sustain that pace of lending, they would pump nearly Rmb30,000bn into the economy this year.

Premier Wen Jiabao signaled that Beijing is closely considering the risks associated with its stimulus policies in comments to the State Council posted on the central government's Web site Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported. China will maintain "reasonable and ample" money and credit supply in the first quarter, he said.

The owner and operator of Sydney's Lane Cove Tunnel and the Military Road E-Ramp, Connector Motorways Pty Ltd, has been placed in receivership, The Sydney Morning Herald reported on an Australian Associated Press story. Martin Madden and David Merryweather of corporate recovery services provider KordaMentha said they had been appointed receivers and managers to Connector on Wednesday by the security trustee, BTA Institutional Services Australia Ltd. "The objective of the receivers is to put the tunnel assets on a firm financial footing," Mr Madden said.

Mitre 10 Group says its three Wellington stores in receivership were trading profitably, but the owner's investments outside of his Mitre 10 interests were behind the collapses, The New Zealand Herald reported. The Crofton Downs, Rongotai and Tory St stores continue to trade, and the receiver is marketing them for sale individually or as a group. All Mitre 10 stores are owner-operated. The group's head office said it had been assisting the receiver with stocktaking at the affected stores.

The euro fell to the lowest level in five months against the dollar on concern Greece’s deteriorating finances will weigh on the region’s economic recovery, Bloomberg reported. The 16-nation currency also approached the lowest level in more than nine years against the Australian dollar on speculation European Central Bank Executive Board member Juergen Stark will reiterate his bearish outlook for the region’s economy and the budget deficit in Greece when he speaks today.