China's central bank said on Friday it would cut the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves for the first time this year to help keep liquidity ample and support a nascent economic recovery, Reuters reported. Chinese leaders have pledged to step up support for the world's second-largest economy, which is gradually rebounding from a pandemic-induced slump after coronavirus-related curbs were abruptly lifted in December.

The Beijing office of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu has been fined $30.8 million for failing to adequately audit a Chinese state-owned asset management company whose former head was sentenced to death on corruption charges, Reuters reported. The office also was ordered to suspend operations for three months for mishandling audit and other work at China Huarong Asset Management Co. in 2014-19, the Ministry of Finance announced Friday. Deloitte was fined 211.9 million yuan ($30.8 million), the ministry said.

State Bank of India (SBI) has filed an insolvency petition against Kolkata-based engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company Simplex Infrastructures in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for recovery of its dues after attempts to restructure its loans did not succeed, the Economic Times of India reported. The company owes lenders led by Punjab National Bank (PNB) a total of ₹9,600 crore and is one of the largest accounts to be taken to the bankruptcy courts in recent times. The NCLT is likely to hear the petition later this month.

China will set up a financial watchdog run by the Communist Party, state media reported on Thursday, as part of a broad reorganisation of governing bodies set to give the ruling party direct control and supervision over financial affairs, Reuters reported. The creation of the Central Financial Commission will see the dissolution of the state-run Financial Stability and Development Committee (FSDC), a powerful body set up in 2017 and headed by former Vice Premier Liu He to curb risks in China's complex and often opaque financial system.

A business tycoon long sought by the government of China and known for cultivating ties to Trump administration figures including Steve Bannon was arrested Wednesday in New York on charges that he oversaw a $1 billion fraud conspiracy, the Associated Press reported. Guo Wengui and his financier, Kin Ming Je, faced an indictment in federal court in Manhattan charging them with various crimes, including wire, securities and bank fraud. Guo was charged in court papers under the name Ho Wan Kwok. U.S.

China will steadily reduce the number of high-risk institutions to help fend off systemic financial risks，its central bank said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Reforms of problematic small and mid-sized financial institutions have made key progress and illegal financial activities have been curbed, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said in a statement after its annual meeting on financial stability. The central bank will continue to follow the guidance of "overall planning and coordination, differentiated policies and precise bomb disposal", it said.

China's economic activity picked up in the first two months of 2023 as consumption and infrastructure investment drove recovery from pandemic disruption, despite challenges of weak global demand and a persistent downturn in the property sector, Reuters reported. China's abandonment of COVID-19 controls late in 2022 has reinvigorated an $18 trillion economy that has suffered one of its lowest growth rates in nearly half a century, with analysts expecting momentum to improve further in coming months.

The Justice Department is investigating last year’s collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin, adding the risk of U.S. criminal charges to the pressure on its creator, South Korean crypto entrepreneur Do Kwon, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Southern District of New York have questioned former team members of Mr. Kwon’s company, Terraform Labs Pte. Ltd., in recent weeks and sought to interview others, the people said.

Chinese money brokers are preparing to suspend their data feed businesses in the coming days after being instructed to do so by Chinese regulators on Tuesday due to data security concerns, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The brokers, which include the local joint ventures of Tullett Prebon and NEX International Ltd, currently feed price quotes to data vendors such as Wind Information Co and Sumscope Information Technology Co, and the move could potentially slow trading in the country's money and bond markets.

China’s Embassy in Washington, D.C., said that it would again permit foreign tourists to visit the country, a major easing of travel restrictions put in place early in the Covid-19 pandemic, the Wall Street Journal reported. Step by step, China has been permitting more foreigners to enter the country in recent months, including in January when it opened its borders to let Chinese begin traveling overseas again. It also made it easier for business travelers to enter.