After Beijing ordered Chinese cities to buy newly-completed apartments and turn them into affordable housing, the first steps they took were to unveil plans to broaden eligibility for subsidies and fix other economic headaches in the process, Reuters reported. Chinese leaders issued the directive in May, aiming to alleviate a protracted property crisis, which has led to bloated inventories of unsold apartments that have crippled developers' cash flows and weighed heavily on home prices, consumer confidence and economic activity.

Energy Absolute Pcl shares plunged by the 30% daily limit after the founder and chief executive quit over a fraud probe and its credit rating was slashed to junk, Bloomberg News reported. Energy Absolute fell to a 10-year low of 9.2 baht when it resumed trading Tuesday, after revealing it has 19.5 billion baht ($539 million) of debt due in 2024 and is seeking one or more strategic partners. Its disclosure followed a one-day share suspension ordered by the Stock Exchange of Thailand, which demanded the renewables company explain its financials and the impact of a fraud probe.

Thailand's prime minister said Monday that eligible businesses and individuals can register from August for digital cash handouts, a controversial program that will cost billions of dollars and is meant to boost the lagging economy. The government announced in April the widely criticized ambitious plan, named the “Digital Wallet,” meant to give 10,000 baht (about $275) to 50 million citizens in digital money to spend at local businesses.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has dismissed the resolution plan submitted for realty developer Rajesh Lifespaces' hotel business, Rajesh Business & Leisure Hotels, citing non-conformity with statutory requirements and procedural irregularities, the Economic Times of India reported. The corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) of Rajesh Business & Leisure Hotels, managed by the resolution professional (RP), had witnessed competing proposals from consortiums led by Sankalp Consortium and Rare ARC-Shree Naman Developers.

China's economy grew much slower than expected in the second quarter as a protracted property downturn and job insecurity knocked the wind out of a fragile recovery, keeping alive expectations Beijing will need to unleash even more stimulus, Reuters reported. The world's second-largest economy grew 4.7% in April-June, official data showed, its slowest since the first quarter of 2023. It also slowed from the previous quarter's 5.3% expansion.

For years, Liuzhou and scores of other Chinese cities together amassed trillions of dollars in off-the-books debt for economic development projects. The opaque financing was the yeast that helped China rise to the envy of the world. Today, overgrown construction sites, sparsely used highways and abandoned tourist attractions make much of that debt-fueled growth look illusory and suggests China’s future is far from assured, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Four Australian banks will give back a total of A$28 million ($18.95 million) to low-income customers, after a review by the corporate regulator found these customers had been kept in high-fee bank accounts despite being eligible for cheaper products, Reuters reported. A report released by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) on Monday said ANZ, Commonwealth Bank Of Australia, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank and Westpac had kept at least two million customers in accounts under which they charged high fees.

A major Cambodian payments firm received crypto worth over $150,000 from a digital wallet used by North Korean hacking outfit Lazarus, blockchain data shows, a glimpse of how the criminal collective has laundered funds in Southeast Asia, Reuters reported. Huione Pay, which is based in Phnom Penh and offers currency exchange, payments and remittance services, received the crypto between June 2023 and February this year, according to the previously unreported blockchain data reviewed by Reuters.

The number of resolved cases under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) may beat last year's record in FY25, the chief of the bankruptcy regulator said on Friday, the Economic Times of India reported. About 270 insolvency cases were resolved under the IBC last fiscal year, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) chairman Ravi Mittal said at an event organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). This was way beyond the annual average of 125 cases that saw resolution since the IBC was rolled out in late 2016, he added.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has ordered initiation of insolvency resolution proceedings against Simbhaoli Sugars Ltd on a petition filed nearly six years ago. The plea was filed in September 2018 by erstwhile Oriental Bank of Commerce which has been merged with state-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) now, the Economic Times of India reported. The lender had sought initiation of Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) against the company under section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. "...