China's foreign exchange regulator phoned several banks on Wednesday to warn them against aggressively selling the Chinese currency, people with direct knowledge of the matter said, in a new sign of official discomfort with recent yuan weakness, Reuters reported. The Chinese yuan has been dropping against the dollar, and market participants said the telephone calls suggested authorities may be getting uncomfortable with the speed of the slide. The yuan jumped to 6.8605 per dollar in offshore trade after Reuters published news of the calls.

Cash-strapped Chinese developer Shimao Group has proposed a two-class restructuring plan to offshore creditors to repay $11.8 billion over a period of three to eight years, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter and a document seen by Reuters. Shanghai-based Shimao, which first missed a public offshore bond obligation last month, is the first major Chinese developer to kick off negotiations on restructuring terms with creditors.

Financial creditors to Future Retail have put in claims for Rs 21,058 crore, while operational creditors have sought another Rs 265 crore. Besides these, there are employee dues of Rs 9.8 crore and Rs 1.1 crore claims from other creditors, the Financial Times of India reported. Bank of India had initiated bankruptcy proceedings against Future Retail following the company's failure to repay creditors after lenders rejected a restructuring proposal where Reliance Group would take over the retail giant.

Indonesia’s central bank unexpectedly raised borrowing costs for the first time since 2018 as policy makers conceded that inflation pressures have risen, revising their price forecasts higher, Bloomberg News reported. Bank Indonesia raised its seven-day reverse repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 3.75% on Tuesday, a move predicted by only seven of 31 economists in a Bloomberg survey. BI raised its forecasts for headline and core inflation this year and said it sees risks that average price gains could exceed the 2%-4% target not just this year but also in 2023.

Former Prime Minister Najib Razak was taken to prison after Malaysia’s top court dismissed his final appeal of corruption convictions, capping a yearslong quest by authorities to prosecute him for his role in one of the world’s largest financial scandals, the Wall Street Journal reported. The ruling by Malaysia’s Federal Court on Tuesday upheld Mr. Najib’s guilty verdicts on seven charges including abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust.

Bengaluru, India-based ShopX has decided to ‘wind down its operations’ and has filed an application for insolvency and bankruptcy under Section 10 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (IBC) code, 2016, the company said in a Ministry of Corporate (MCA) filing, VCCircle.com reported. The Nandan Nilekani-backed startup said that it defaulted on repayment of interest on loans due to the insufficiency of funds. The company said it took multiple loans from its investors including Nilekani and its Singapore-based backer Fung Investment, without sharing details about the figures.

Turkey's central bank unveiled new measures on Saturday meant to address credit availability including higher reserve requirement collateral for lenders, days after it shocked markets with a 100 basis-point interest rate cut to 13%, Reuters reported. It said that the steps were meant to support financial stability and strengthen the monetary transmission mechanism after citing the need to address the widening gap between its policy rate and lending rates when it cut rates on Thursday.

Pakistan's central bank on Monday held its main policy rate at 15%, the bank said in a statement, adding it would closely watch inflation data and global commodity prices, Reuters reported. "Looking ahead, the MPC (monetary policy committee) intends to remain data-dependent, paying close attention to month-on-month inflation ... as well as global commodity prices and interest rate decisions by major central banks," the State Bank said in a statement.

For all the talk in Western capitals of reducing reliance on Chinese factories, China has in the past two years consolidated its position as the world’s dominant supplier of manufactured goods, the Wall Street Journal reported. Though some of China’s gains in global markets may unwind as the effects of the pandemic fade, the trend nonetheless highlights just how hard it is to unplug from the world’s largest factory floor.

New Zealand's government said on Monday it had transferred Kiwibank's assets to a new state-owned company, since the lender no longer fit within the long-term plans for two state entities that currently own it, Reuters reported. Kiwibank, which is New Zealand fifth-largest retail bank, was owned by state-owned entities New Zealand Post, Accident Compensation Corporation and sovereign wealth fund New Zealand Superannuation Fund.