China's banking and insurance regulator has agreed in principal to allow two rural banks in Liaoning Province to enter bankruptcy proceedings, according to an official statement released on Friday, Reuters reported. The two banks are Liaoyang Rural Commercial Bank Co., Ltd and Liaoning Taizihe Village Bank Co., Ltd, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said. Read more.

CEC, the company that has been running the dealer school Japan Casino Academy, received an order for commencement of bankruptcy proceedings from the Tokyo District Court on 17 August, Inside Asian Gambling reported. CEC was originally established in September 2014 in Shibuya. The company’s debt is currently being calculated. CEC opened Japan Casino Academy with the goal of training professional casino dealers. In addition to operating multiple campuses in Tokyo, there were also locations in Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Sapporo.

Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang-yong said he would join Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in tightening the focus on inflation if prices remain out of control, keeping the door open for another outsized interest-rate hike, Bloomberg News reported. Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg TV’s Kathleen Hays at Jackson Hole, Rhee said Powell’s remarks at the gathering of central bankers were largely in line with his expectations. But he added that higher US rates may still weaken the won further and lead to stronger inflation in Korea among other uncertain factors influencing policy.

Union Bank of India (UBI), the second largest creditor to KSK Mahanadi Power, has put its ₹2,077 crore outstanding loan to the company on the block, according to an auction notice seen by the Economic Times of India. Other lenders including State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda (BoB) and Axis Bank have already sold their debt in the company that owns a 3,600-mw power plant and has been under a prolonged insolvency process. UBI has set a reserve price of ₹919 crore in cash for its exposure.

Thailand's oldest lender, SCBX Pcl, said on Thursday that it was pulling out of a $500 million deal to buy crypto exchange Bitkub, saying the start-up needed time to fix regulatory issues, Reuters reported. "Bitkub is currently in the process of resolving various issues as per the recommendations and orders of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Thailand, which are uncertain in terms of timeframe in resolving those issues," SCBX said in a statement. "As a result, the buyer and the seller have agreed to terminate the transaction," it said.

Australia's companies are split, as big miners and airlines expect higher profits on soaring commodities prices and a rebound from COVID-19, while supermarkets, banks and manufacturers are hurt by inflation and stagnant wages, Reuters reported. Annual business results and profit forecasts reveal a divide in the world's 13th-biggest economy between companies, largely international, that collect on rising prices and those, largely focussing on the domestic consumer, that are forced to absorb the higher costs.

Three Arrows Capital Ltd.’s liquidators secured a key court decision in Singapore that may give them greater insight into the collapsed crypto hedge fund’s remaining assets in a major jurisdiction, Bloomberg News reported. The Singapore High Court on Monday granted a petition by advisory firm Teneo, which in June was appointed by a British Virgin Islands court to liquidate Three Arrows, to recognize the liquidation order in the country, the people said, asking not to be named as the proceedings were private. Teneo is trying to round up and preserve the hedge fund’s assets.

Commodity trader Noble Group Ltd will pay a S$12.6 million ($9.03 million) penalty for releasing 'misleading' information in its financial statements between 2012 and 2016, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The company, which was once the biggest commodity trader in Asia, saw its market value all but wiped out from $6 billion in 2015 after accusation of inflating its assets, forcing it to sell billions of dollars of assets, taking hefty writedowns and cut hundreds of jobs.

Debt-ridden Future Enterprises is now facing a second insolvency plea filed by an operational creditor before National Company Law Tribunal, the Economic Times of India reported. The latest petition was filed by Retail Detailz India, claiming default of Rs 4.02 crore before the Mumbai bench of the NCLT. "The Company has received e-filing confirmation from NCLT with respect to the filing of an application by an Operational Creditor Retail Detailz India Private under section 9 of the IBC for an alleged default amount of Rs 4.02 crore," Future Enterprises said in a filing.

China's unemployment insurance payouts hit a record high in June, adding to signs of a struggling labour market as the economy has been badly hit by COVID-19 outbreaks and a property crisis, Reuters reported. Payments by China's unemployment insurance fund jumped 256.6% in June from a year earlier to 37.19 billion yuan ($5.42 billion), according to Reuters' calculations based on data from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. That was the highest since the data series began in January 2013.