Japan’s parliament on Tuesday enacted a set of bills to digitalize civil procedures that do not involve lawsuits, such as divorce mediation and bankruptcy applications, the Japan Times reported. The House of Representatives passed the bills by a majority vote at the day’s plenary meeting, with support mainly from the ruling bloc. The bills were approved by the the Upper House earlier. The legislation will allow people to submit necessary applications online, instead of the current system of such documents being brought or mailed to courts.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Monday admitted applications filed by Go First lessors Jackson Square Aviation Private Ltd and Engine Lease Finance BV and directed the insolvency resolution professional (IRP) to reply within a week, the Economic Times of India reported. Jackson Square had filed an interlocutory application asking the court to restrain Go First from flying the eight aircraft leased by the company to the airline.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government on Tuesday unveiled an action plan on his "new capitalism" programme of driving growth and wealth distribution through wage hikes, signalling his commitment to shift the economy into a higher gear, Reuters reported. Kishida's economic strategy will focus on investment in human resources, science and technology, innovation and start-ups, as well as green and digital transformation, as key driver of growth. The action plan and separate mid-year economic policy framework are expected to be approved by Kishida's cabinet later this month.

In a rare attempt to bolster China's yuan, a self-regulatory body overseen by the country's central bank has told major state-owned banks to lower dollar deposit interest rates, four people with direct knowledge of the matter said, Reuters reported. This could encourage Chinese firms, especially exporters, to settle foreign exchange receipts in yuan, which has weakened to six-month lows against the dollar. The buoyant U.S. currency and the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes have prompted many Chinese companies to hoard dollar receipts.

China said local government debt is manageable and authorities have enough financial resources to avoid risks from spreading, seeking to allay investor fears of possible defaults, Bloomberg News reported. The official Xinhua News agency published a report Monday responding to recent concerns about local government finances. It quoted an unidentified official from the Ministry of Finance as saying government finances are generally healthy and urged local authorities to tackle their debts.

Insolvency tribunal NCLT approved 180 resolution plans in FY23, making it the highest-ever annual number so far, the Economic Times of India reported. With this, NCLT has clocked in a total realisation of Rs 51,424 crore from stressed assets. While, in terms of realisation of the amount for creditors, this is the second highest after FY19, when the total realisation was Rs 1.11 lakh crore after completing 77 insolvency proceedings including some big-ticket matters such as Essar Steel and Monnet Ispat.

In mid-May, cryptocurrency exchange Binance got some bad news in a far-flung corner of its sprawling universe. Binance’s payments partner in Australia had abruptly cut it off, meaning local customers couldn’t deposit Aussie dollars on the platform via bank transfer. The hit to business was immediate, with Binance halting all Aussie trading pairs about two weeks later, along with bank withdrawals of the local currency, Bloomberg News reported.

China is working on a new basket of measures to support the property market after existing policies failed to sustain a rebound in the ailing sector, Bloomberg News reported. Regulators are considering reducing the down payment in some non-core neighborhoods of major cities, lowering agent commissions on transactions, and further relaxing restrictions for residential purchases under the guidance of the State Council, the people said, asking not to be named because the matter is private.

Tremors in a key corner of China’s debt market are threatening to become the next force that will rattle the world’s second-largest economy. With the real estate market in a slump and growth showing signs of losing momentum, investors are growing concerned about another potential drag: Local government financing vehicles, which have long provided a big boost to the economy as authorities used them to bankroll the construction of roads, subways and other infrastructure projects, according to a Bloomberg News report.

Australia's largest pension fund will pause use of the domestic unit of auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as the "big four" firm reels from a national scandal over its use of confidential government tax plans to drum up work with global clients, Reuters reported. The roughly A$290 billion ($196.71 billion) fund, AustralianSuper, has frozen new contracts with PwC and expressed concerns about the scandal "at the highest level", according to a spokesperson. An audit contract worth A$1.6 million in 2022, will be reviewed this year, the spokesperson added.