Some immigration lawyers have seen a new increase in the number of Chinese seeking foreign citizenship, a trend they suggest is tied to worries about political turmoil and economic slowdown in China, especially among businesspeople and politicians seeking to protect their families and wealth, The Wall Street Journal reported. The recent interest builds on a trend of growth in applications from Chinese seeking to emigrate to places like the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

The Korea Housing Finance Corporation (HF) confirmed that more and more seniors are turning to reverse mortgages, an arrangement in which a homeowner borrows against the equity in his or her home and receives monthly payments from the lender, The Korea Times reported. It could be argued that reverse mortgages are a financial tool tailored made for Korea, which struggles to cope with a prolonged housing market slump, decaying employment situations, spiraling family debt and stagnant income. This has resulted in millions of over-50 Koreans marching blindly into retirement poverty.

Hutchison Whampoa Ltd has made a revised 2 billion euros ($2.6 billion) bid for eircom, the Irish phone company granted court protection from creditors six weeks ago, according to sources familiar with the deal. Hutchison, the parent company of 3 Mobile, amended its offer after the court-appointed examiner overseeing Eircom's reorganization rejected an initial bid over the conditionality attached to it, Reuters reported. A tweaked bid, with some technical adjustments and no conditions, has been resubmitted, but it is still subject to due diligence said a source.

While financial authorities continue to push forward their efforts to clean up Korea’s messy secondary banking sector, it remains to be seen whether they could properly finish what they started, The Korea Times reported. In its latest attempt to purge secondary lenders that were crippled by exposure to the country’s toxic property sector, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) suspended the Solomon Savings Bank, Mirae Savings Bank, Korea Savings Bank and Hanju Savings Bank Sunday. This extended the list of savings banks shelved by financial regulators to 20.

Despite relatively strong economic growth, risks for banks are growing in Asia. Among the risks are a big increase in lending in recent years, rising individual debt levels in the region, headwinds from the European debt crisis and a slowdown in China. Investors and analysts are watching the numbers closely, and while only a few see a big spike in bad debts, many are worried profits may be squeezed, particularly if there are more hiccups in the global economy. Bankers across Asia agree losses will rise but only modestly.

The prosecution said Thursday it will launch an investigation into savings banks subject to business suspension as early as next week. Now, up to four savings banks are expected to face administrative measures imposed by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), prompting concerns over another bank run, The Korea Times reported. “Basically, we will launch a probe at the request of the financial regulator after they announce the list of savings banks for business suspension,” a prosecutor said.

A group of bondholders of bankrupt Japanese semiconductor maker Elpida Memory Inc have threatened to thwart the auction of the company's assets if trustees agree to a reported selling price of 150 billion yen ($1.9 billion), Reuters reported. In a filing to a Tokyo district court on April 27, the bondholders said they could submit a rival reorganisation plan if the bankruptcy trustees agreed to a low-ball bid that would "unintentionally transfer great value to the winning sponsor".

China's Hony Capital plans to sell or outsource the operations at Elpida Memory's Hiroshima DRAM plant to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) if its bid for the bankrupt Japanese chipmaker is successful, the Nikkei business daily said on Tuesday. The scenario involving Hony, which is bidding along with fellow private equity firm TPG Capital, and China's top chipmaker, was drawn up by the Chinese government, the Nikkei said citing a banking source, and is one of a few being mentioned surrounding the takeover of Elpida.

Australia's slowing economy was given a shot in the arm Tuesday when the central bank cut a hefty half-percentage point from official interest rates, signaling a shift in its focus away from fighting inflation and toward safeguarding growth amid an uncertain global outlook, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Embattled miner Kagara has gone into voluntary administration after failing to meet its debt obligations, putting up to 325 jobs at risk, The Australian. The Perth company announced yesterday it had appointed Taylor Woodings as voluntary administrator after suspending its shares from trading last week because it had failed to refinance a $40 million debt facility with ANZ. Administrator Michael Ryan said the administration process would provide the company and stakeholders with breathing space and protection to make decisions about the future in a considered way.