Merchant services provider SmartPay has bought the payments division of eftpos company ProvencoCadmus after it fell into receivership earlier this month, The National Business Review reported. The purchase includes all of ProvencoCadmus’ New Zealand and Australian payments operations, transactional business and all intellectual property relating to payments. Unsustainable debt, lack of investment capital and a weaker than expected trading performance in its retail automation business saw ProvencoCadmus go into receivership on August 4.

The policy-making board of the Reserve Bank of Australia said for the first time since slashing rates in late 2008 that there could be risks in leaving interest rates too low for too long, and that it is discussing tightening policy. The central bank also said it will look to economic data to determine the timing of interest-rate increases. When discussing the "timing and process" of such a move, it added, the board would weigh the risk of "overstaying a very accommodative setting in a recovering economy" against the risk that an early tightening could choke confidence and demand.

World stock markets have fallen despite Japan becoming the latest country to officially come out of recession, the BBC reported. Analysts say that investors are worried that they may have been too quick to predict an economic rebound during recent rallies. Leading Wall Street markets fell about 2% lower after similar losses in the UK, mainland Europe and bigger drops in Asian markets. "There is now a realisation that coming out of a recession is one thing, but building a recovery is another," said Justin Urquhart Stewart, director at Seven Investment Management.

As central bankers keep pumping huge sums into the global financial system, they are also pumping up one of the riskier investment strategies in the currency market, The Wall Street Journal reported. Known as the "carry trade," the strategy involves borrowing money in countries such as Japan where interest rates are low, then investing it where rates are higher and pocketing the difference. After flourishing during the boom years, the trade all but disappeared as big currency swings led to heavy losses amid the financial crisis.

Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens warned Australian homeowners and home buyers today to prepare for higher interest rates from the current "emergency" lows, as the economy starts to strengthen, The Australian reported. The central bank chief said the global economy was starting to improve, but there were still potential risks which could damage the recovery both in Australia and offshore.

Heavily indebted New Zealand dairy farmers face a financial "perfect storm" and many could go under, finance experts warn. Dairy farms are especially vulnerable as farmers face falling commodity prices, increased costs and some farm asset values had dropped by 30 to 40 percent, The National Business Review reported. There were a lot of stressed farmers running significant cash deficits this year, PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Roger Wilson told The Press.

The author of an editorial linking Rio Tinto Group’s actions in China to 700 billion yuan ($102 billion) in excess charges for the steel industry said the article was his own opinion and used previously published data, Bloomberg reported. Jiang Ruqin, an employee with the Jiangsu Province Administration for the Protection of State Secrets, said he has no involvement in a legal case against four Rio employees detained last month, and that no “leaders” assigned him to write the essay or reviewed the piece before publication.

Jobless numbers have made the highest quarterly jump for more than 20 years as the recession finally translated into mass job losses, The National Business Review reported. The number of unemployed jumped from 5% to 6% of the workforce in the June quarter, according to Statistics New Zealand’s Household Labour Force Survey released this morning. The rise was well above average market economists' expectations of a jump to 5.6%. It was also the largest quarterly increase since September 1988, which was in the depths of the long 1987-92 recession.

Creditors filed for the liquidation of the troubled Ssangyong Motor with the Seoul Central District Court, Wednesday, a desperate move to put pressure on occupiers of a building at the company's plant amid growing fears that the occupation will soon threaten the survival of not only the automaker but also its suppliers, The Korea Times reported. Choi Myung-hoon, the spokesman for the creditors, said, "With the standoff continuing, more than 1,900 part suppliers are exposed to bankruptcy.

Qantas Airways Ltd. Chief Executive Alan Joyce said he doesn't expect Australia's national carrier to merge with another airline for at least a decade, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mr. Joyce also predicted that at least one competitor will drop out of the cramped Pacific route between Australia and the U.S, and confirmed that Qantas has suspended plans to list its frequent flyer business indefinitely. Merger talks between Qantas and British Airways PLC. fell through last year and Qantas has also held merger discussions with Singapore Airlines Ltd.