Asia Pacific

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) wants the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code to allow group-level insolvency and concurrent bidding to both speed up and maximise recoveries of stuck loans, the Economic Times of India reported. Citing cases like Videocon and SREI, the regulator is looking to introduce "coordinated resolution for interconnected entities" to reduce costs and quicken the process.

A hawkish member of the Bank of Japan’s policy board on Thursday called for potentially faster interest-rate increases, sending the yen to its strongest level against the dollar in eight weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported. In a speech to business leaders in Nagano prefecture in central Japan, Naoki Tamura said that the central bank should raise rates to 1% or higher in the fiscal half starting in October. That level is likely consistent with a neutral rate setting that is neither restrictive nor stimulating for the economy, he added.

Pernod Ricard and Carlsberg warned on Thursday they see few signs of a pick-up in consumer demand in China, the world's second-biggest economy, adding to a gloomy outlook for 2025 as executives try to navigate growing global trade tensions, Reuters reported. Weak consumer spending in China, which is grappling with youth unemployment and a real-estate crisis, has been a major concern for industries including luxury goods, consumer products and clothes manufacturers over the past year.

India plans to review import tariffs on over 30 items, including luxury cars, solar cells and chemicals, a senior finance ministry official said, potentially leading to increased imports from the United States as global trade tensions grow, Reuters reported. The move, aimed at reducing average tariffs, comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the U.S. next week. In a bid to avoid President Donald Trump's growing tariff actions, India has already reduced average import tariff rates to 11% from 13% on several items in the latest budget.

Critical legal and regulatory shifts, from AI-driven workforce transformation to evolving insolvency frameworks, are expected to redefine India Inc.'s business strategy, the Economic Times of India reported. A recent report by Khaitan & Co., ‘Foresight 2025,’ states that legal agility will be key for businesses navigating India’s evolving corporate terrain as regulatory complexities deepen across sectors.

Japan’s boom in management buyouts looks set for stricter oversight to protect minority shareholders when companies go private, the Japan Times reported. The Tokyo Stock Exchange will this month consider changes to the Corporate Code of Conduct that would require firms to improve disclosure of assumptions used to calculate the price of buyouts, and to set up a special committee to hear opinions about the proposed deal. The move shines a light on concerns of minority shareholders that have arisen as buyouts in Japan rose to the highest since 2011.

Nissan Motor and Honda Motor have hit a standstill negotiating the terms of a merger, announced less than two months ago, that would have created one of the world’s largest auto groups, the New York Times reported. Before their disclosure in late December that they were exploring combining operations, Nissan and Honda had discussed operating as partners under a holding company.