South Korea has recouped 69.7 percent of the public funds it spent to bail out troubled financial firms since the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, the financial regulator said Monday, the Yonhap News Agency reported. The country retrieved 327.9 billion won (US$284.3 million) in the second quarter out of the 168.7 trillion won in state funds spent to save firms from bankruptcy, according to the Financial Services Commission (FSC). The recovery rate was up from 69.5 percent recorded at the end of March, it added.

Japan will act "without hesitation" to cushion the economic blow from the COVID-19 pandemic, economy minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said on Friday, signaling the government's readiness to compile another spending package as the crisis weighs on growth, Reuters reported. Japan decided on Friday to expand states of emergency to three prefectures near Olympic host Tokyo and the western prefecture of Osaka, as COVID-19 cases spike, a move that will delay an already fragile economic recovery.

In a ruling that will help infrastructure and construction companies, the Delhi High Court said forcing a minimum claim period of 12 months for bank guarantees is wrongful, rejecting interpretations that existing laws rendered shorter claim periods void, the Economic Times of India reported.

Kenya has resumed servicing loans owed to China after Beijing’s six-month debt-repayment suspension expired in June, piling pressure on the exchequer, Bloomberg News reported. The government began 2021-22 remittances, with the first batch to the Export–Import Bank of China amounting to 82.7 billion shillings ($761 million), according to Kenya’s Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o. Repayments are for debt taken for projects, including a railroad between Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, and the port city of Mombasa, Nyakang’o said in emailed responses to questions.

Australia’s Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman is calling on the federal government to ‘reactivate’ temporary insolvency protections that will help cushion small and family businesses during public health ordered lockdowns, SmartCompany reported. The number of businesses going into administration increased by 75% in the last week of June 2021, according to new data released by CreditorWatch.

The U.S. securities regulator will not allow Chinese companies to raise money in the United States unless they fully explain their legal structures and disclose the risk of Beijing interfering in their businesses, the agency said on Friday, confirming an exclusive report by Reuters. In a statement, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler said he had also asked staff to "engage in targeted additional reviews of filings for companies with significant China-based operations." The development underscores U.S.

Australia’s Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombud is calling on the federal government to ‘reactivate’ temporary insolvency protections that will help cushion small and family businesses during public health ordered lockdowns, the Mandarin reported. The number of businesses going into administration increased by 75% in the last week of June 2021, according to new data released by CreditorWatch.

Singapore Airlines faces an uneven road to recovery as the more contagious delta variant of the new coronavirus and a persisting pandemic threaten to upend the resumption of mass travel worldwide, Nikkei Asia reported. The Singapore Exchange-listed company on Thursday reported a net loss of 409 million Singapore dollars ($302 million) for the April to June quarter -- the first in its new financial year, after racking up an annual net loss of SG$4.27 billion the year before.

China moved to ease investor concerns about crackdowns on listed companies, with a top regulator privately telling global financial firms that Beijing will consider the market impact before introducing future policies, the Wall Street Journal reported. Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, spoke to representatives of global banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS 0.89% and UBS Group AG, as well as some investment firms on Wednesday evening, according to the people.