Asia Pacific

Turkey should tighten monetary policy and give its central bank more independence, a mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday, Reuters reported. "To address (Turkey's) challenges, the mission recommended early policy rate hikes accompanied by moves to strengthen the central bank's independence," said the IMF in a press release. "Such moves would help reduce inflation more durably and allow reserve buffers to be rebuilt over time." Forex reserves have dropped sharply in recent years due to market interventions and in the wake of a currency crisis in December.

A mansion belonging to embattled China Evergrande Group's chairman in Hong Kong's prestigious The Peak residential enclave has been seized by lender China Construction Bank (Asia), records from the Land Registry show, Reuters reported. The bank appointed receivers to take over the 5,000 sq ft (465 sq m) mansion on Nov. 1, according to a filing.

Debt-laden property developer China Evergrande Group said on Tuesday its unit received a notice of enforcement for unrecoverable funds from Shengjing Bank Co Ltd, Reuters reported. The bank said it failed to recover funds totalling 32.595 billion yuan ($4.48 billion), which was provided to the unit from 2020 to 2021, according to Evergrande. In early September, state-owned companies of the Chinese northestern city of Shenyang bought Evergrande's shareholding in Shengjing Bank in an auction for 7.3 billion yuan.

A bankruptcy court in Mumbai has admitted listed infrastructure firm Valecha Engineering under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) and has appointed Anurag Kumar Sinha as the interim resolution professional of the company, the Economic Times of India reported. The State Bank of India (SBI) had filed an application in the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) after the company failed to repay its dues exceeding Rs 347 crore.

South Korea’s five major financial holding companies pledged a total of 95 trillion won ($67 billion) by the end of this year to help stabilize the credit market, responding to a request of the regulator, Bloomberg News reported. The heads of KB Financial Group Inc., Hana Financial Group Inc., Shinhan Financial Group Co., Woori Financial Group Inc. and NongHyup Financial Group Inc. made the commitment when they met with Financial Services Commission Chairman Kim Joo-hyun, the regulator said in a statement on Tuesday.

China's property market continued its slump in October, with private data showing home prices and sales falling, suggesting lacklustre sentiment and a bleak outlook amid strict COVID curbs that have rattled consumer confidence, Reuters reported. China's property sector, once a pillar of growth, has slowed sharply in the past year as a result of a government clampdown on excessive borrowing by developers, and a COVID-19-induced economic slump.

The Reserve Bank of India's central bank-backed digital rupee was used to settle secondary market transactions in Indian government bonds worth 2.75 billion Indian rupees ($33.29 million) as part of a pilot, data on Tuesday showed, Reuters reported. Trades in a total of three securities –– five-year 7.38% 2027 former benchmark 6.54% 2032 and the current benchmark 7.26% 2032 bonds –– were settled under the new route, data as of 4 p.m. IST (1030 GMT) showed. "Since this was the first day, some deals only in liquid bonds were settled using CBDC," a trader with a state-run bank said.

The head of Australia's central bank on Tuesday said further increases in interest rates would likely be needed to tame inflation, and it was ready to go faster on hikes or to pause for a time if necessary, Reuters reported. In a speech in Tasmania, Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Philip Lowe said the policy making board was aware that rates had risen sharply in a short period of time and this was combining with high inflation to pressure household budgets.

Stellantis said that shareholders of its loss-making joint venture producing Jeep vehicles in China have approved it to file for bankruptcy, Reuters reported. The European carmaker said in a statement it had fully impaired the value of its investment in the venture in its results for the fist half of 2022, adding that it will continue to provide services to existing and future Jeep brand customers in China. Stellantis had terminated the joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. (GAC) in July, only months after it said it would raise its stake in the business to 75% from 50%.