New Zealand’s central bank said it will reduce monetary stimulus by ceasing quantitative easing, a surprise move that sent the currency higher as traders priced in an interest-rate increase as early as August, Bloomberg News reported. The Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, led by Governor Adrian Orr, on Wednesday held the official cash rate at 0.25%, but said that it will halt bond buying under its Large Scale Asset Purchase program by July 23. The statement omitted a previous reference to the need for considerable time and patience to achieve its inflation and employment goals.

Japan's financial regulator and central bank will launch a sweeping investigation into how well anti-money laundering measures work at regional banks and other local financial institutions, Nikkei has learned. The probe, which comes amid a spate of fraudulent money transfers in the country, could get underway this summer. An international assessment by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on money laundering, scheduled to be released in August, will likely point out inadequate internal control systems at Japanese financial institutions.

A silver mine in Bosnia and Herzegovina that sat derelict through the years of civil strife that gripped the region from the early 1990s may soon be taken out of mothballs to benefit from an optimistic price outlook, Bloomberg News reported. Adriatic Metals Plc’s Vares project could resume production by the end of 2022 following a hiatus of more than three decades, according to Chief Executive Officer Paul Cronin.

Adani Enterprises Ltd. has taken control of Mumbai’s international airport from GVK Group, in a bold bet by billionaire Gautam Adani that travel will stage a rapid recovery after being crushed by the pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. The deal for Mumbai International Airport Ltd., India’s second busiest, makes Adani Airport Holdings Ltd. the nation’s largest airport infrastructure company, accounting for 25% of all passenger traffic and 33% of air cargo, according to a statement late Tuesday.

India formally set up a bad loan bank as part of the nation’s ongoing efforts to remove one of the world’s largest piles of soured debt from the balance sheet of financiers and accelerate lending, Bloomberg News reported. The firm was registered as the National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd. on July 7 with Padmakumar Madhavan Nair as the managing director, according to filings with the Registrar of Companies, where firms must register before becoming operational. NARCL’s paid-up capital is 746 million rupees ($10 million), according to the filing.

Chinese builder Sichuan Languang Development Co. failed to repay a local bond, marking its first default in a domestic credit market grappling with rising debt failures, Bloomberg News reported. The company was not able to raise enough funds for the repayment on a 900 million yuan ($139 million) local bond that matured Sunday, which amounts to a default, according to a Monday statement from Languang to the Shanghai Clearing House. The builder said last week it might not be able to make the payment.

China has prospered during much of the coronavirus pandemic as the world’s factory, making everything from face masks to exercise equipment for housebound consumers. Demand for its products doesn’t appear to be slowing even as Western economies reopen, the New York Times reported. China’s General Administration of Customs announced on Tuesday that the country’s exports surged 32.2 percent in June compared with the same month last year.

The U.S. private equity group in talks with Sanjeev Gupta over refinancing his Australian operations, White Oak Global Advisors, is moving deeper into the trade credit business after snapping up one of Greensill Capital’s subsidiaries, the Australian Financial Review reported. White Oak Global Advisors CEO Andre Hakkak, who is in refinancing talks with Sanjeev Gupta, has bought Greensill Capital subsidiary Finacity. White Oak has been named the successful bidder of Finacity, a US firm which helps companies raise cash by acquiring their invoices.

Those in the business of mining cryptocurrencies are rushing to leave China, which had accounted for 60% of global bitcoin mining, as the nation tightens restrictions on such activities, Nikkei Asia reported. China, which is already testing a digital yuan, has moved early to rein in other virtual currencies, sparking widespread disruption. The government in May announced tougher restrictions targeting cryptocurrency mining and transactions.

Hyflux Ltd.’s judicial manager brought a plan to liquidate the Singapore company before a court on Monday, following a years-long saga in one of the city-state’s most high-profile distressed cases, Bloomberg News reported. The hearing comes after the court-appointed manager in charge of the water treatment company since November applied last month to wind up the firm. Judicial manager Borrelli Walsh Ltd. said in a statement in June that “the remaining value” of the Hyflux Group is best realized in a liquidation.