Asia Pacific

China's central bank said on Thursday it would cut the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves for the second time this year to boost liquidity and support the country's economic recovery, Reuters reported. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) said it would cut the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) for all banks, except those that have implemented a 5% reserve ratio, by 25 basis points from Sept. 15. The reduction follows a 25-bps cut for all banks in March and comes as the world's second-biggest economy is struggling to sustain a post-pandemic recovery.

China is carrying out a massive anticorruption purge across its healthcare sector, in an effort to bring down medical costs and revive the country’s flagging economy, the Wall Street Journal reported. Communist Party enforcers have steamrolled through hospitals and medical institutions across China, detaining more than 190 hospital party chiefs, directors and deputy directors—incumbent and former—so far this year, according to a Wall Street Journal review of government disclosures.

Singapore’s approach to crypto became more conservative after the collapse of FTX but the island remains crypto friendly overall, said Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, chief executive of the Binance digital-asset exchange, Bloomberg News reported. The Hong Kong crypto regime that took effect mid-year only allows a limited number of tokens for trading by retail investors, he said Thursday via video link at the Token2049 conference in Singapore. Tighter regulations generally have prompted many traditional financial institutions to hold back on offering cash to crypto services and vice versa, he added.

Singapore’s central bank imposed nine-year prohibition orders on Su Zhu and Kyle Davies for transgressions at their collapsed crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, Bloomberg News reported. The orders from the city-state’s financial watchdog took effect Wednesday and ban both men from any regulated activity, according to a Monetary Authority of Singapore statement on Thursday. Zhu and Davies are also prohibited from managing, being directors of, or becoming substantial shareholders of any capital market services company under the Securities and Futures Act, the statement showed.

Employers hired almost 65,000 more workers in August, many more than expected, improving the prospects that the economy will avoid a hard landing but also raising the possibility the Reserve Bank may hike interest rates again, the Guardian reported. The unemployment rate last month was 3.7%, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. Economists had forecast the economy would add 25,000 jobs in August, which would have left the jobless rate at July’s reported level of 3.7%. Of the 64,900 extra jobs recorded in August, all but 2,800 of them were part-time roles.

Lenders to Indian education-technology company Byju’s have alleged that it covertly transferred $533 million to a Florida-based hedge fund, adding another dimension to their legal feud with one of India’s most highly valued startups, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. A lender lawsuit filed in a Miami court last week alleges Byju’s sent $533 million that should have been in its U.S. affiliate’s bank accounts to Camshaft Capital, described as a Miami-area hedge fund, and concealed the whereabouts of that money from the company’s lenders.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) will hear on September 26 the resolution plan for debt-ridden Reliance Capital submitted by Hinduja Group firm Indusind International Holdings Ltd (IIHL) as Torrent Investments' plea to keep the decision in abeyance has been rejected, the Economic Times of India reported. The Mumbai bench of the insolvency tribunal has rejected the Torrent's plea to keep the application for approving IIHL's resolution plan in abeyance till a final order is passed by the Supreme Court in the matter.

China's largest private property developer Country Garden won approval from its creditors to extend repayments on six onshore bonds by three years, two sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, sending shares up as much as 10%, Reuters reported. The bondholder reprieve came as investors are closely monitoring whether China's latest government stimulus measures including lowering existing mortgage rates and offering preferential loans for first-home purchases in big cities might be enough to restore consumer confidence and sow the seeds for an eventual property market recovery.

China's economy is resilient and has not collapsed, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Tuesday, rejecting claims from the West that its economy is faltering and could cause wider problems, Reuters reported. Officials from countries including Australia and the United States have publicly raised concerns about the world's second-largest economy. U.S. President Joe Biden called China's economic situation a "crisis" while Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers said a slowing Chinese economy could in turn weigh on Australia's.

Embattled developer Country Garden faces a new round of voting by creditors to extend several debt maturities on Monday, having avoided default at the last minute twice already this month to bring some respite to the crisis-hit Chinese property sector, Reuters reported. The voting, due to conclude by 10 p.m. Hong Kong time (1400 GMT), will have onshore creditors decide on approving a proposal by Country Garden to extend repayments of eight onshore bonds by three years. The latest voting comes after the country's largest private developer on Sept.