Since the global financial crisis in 2018, Japan’s financial sector has become increasingly linked to global market moves as foreign investment funds pile into the country and domestic banks invest more in overseas securities, the BOJ said, Reuters reported. That has increased overlaps in portfolios between domestic and foreign financial institutions, the central bank said in a semi-annual report analysing Japan’s banking system.

A major index provider and some investors are distancing themselves from the marine-ports operator controlled by Indian conglomerate Adani Group over past business transactions with a company linked to the military regime in Myanmar, the Wall Street Journal reported. Financial data firm S&P Global Inc. last week said it would remove Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd. from its Dow Jones Sustainability Indices, which consists of various different regional indexes holding companies that rank highly on environmental and social affairs.

After two weeks of relentless losses, China Huarong Asset Management bondholders are finally finding reasons for optimism, Bloomberg News reported. Huarong bonds jumped after China's financial regulator said on Friday (April 16) that the bad-debt manager was operating normally and had ample liquidity, its first official comments since the company jolted Asian credit markets by missing a deadline to report earnings on March 31.

The National Wages Council (NWC) convened today to relook at guidelines on wage- and employment-related issues amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Straits Times reported. In its deliberations, it will take into account the domestic and global economic situations and outlook given the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, as well as Singapore's pace of recovery, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said on Wednesday.

New Delhi imposed a weeklong lockdown on Monday night to prevent the collapse of the Indian capital’s health system, which authorities said had been pushed to its limit amid an explosive surge in coronavirus cases, the Associated Press reported. In scenes familiar from surges elsewhere, ambulances catapulted from one hospital to another, trying to find an empty bed over the weekend, while patients lined up outside of medical facilities waiting to be let in. Ambulances also idled outside of crematoriums, carrying half a dozen dead bodies each.

Luckin Coffee Inc. said it has secured a $260 million investment from two Chinese private-equity firms, funding that the troubled coffee chain operator said would support its debt restructuring and help pay a U.S. regulatory penalty over allegations it fabricated sales to make its growth appear stronger, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The investment is led by Centurium Capital, a Luckin shareholder, which has agreed to invest $240 million in senior convertible preferred shares, Luckin said. Fellow shareholder Joy Capital has agreed to invest $10 million in senior preferred shares.

China’s distressed loan managers are facing mounting pressure as the pandemic has made it harder to dispose of assets, according to a closely watched survey by China Orient Asset Management Co., Bloomberg News reported. Increasing credit losses at the managers themselves threaten to hurt profits and have adverse impact on their capital strength over the long term, China Orient, one the nation’s four state-owned bad loan banks, said in a report published on Friday. It also warned of growing difficulties to manage the maturity mismatch as their liabilities are mostly short-term.

Millions of people in India in danger of sliding out of the middle class and into poverty due to the economic crisis as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the New York Times reported. Now a second wave of Covid-19 has struck India, and the middle class dreams of tens of millions of people face even greater peril. Already, about 32 million people in India were driven into poverty by the pandemic last year, according to the Pew Research Center, accounting for a majority of the 54 million who slipped out of the middle class worldwide.

Indian supermarket-operator Future Retail Ltd. approved a debt resolution plan that eases some immediate concerns as a legal battle with partner Amazon.com Inc. threatens to delay an asset sale to Reliance Industries Ltd., Bloomberg News reported. Future Retail’s board agreed to a proposition to restructure its secured bank debt and three rupee-denominated bonds, according to an exchange filing Saturday. The plan, which was accepted by lenders, is subject to approval by a committee formed by the central bank and exchanges.

Real estate firm Wave Megacity Centre has moved the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) voluntary requesting it to initiate insolvency proceedings against itself as it is unable to clear the dues of the Noida Authority, the Economic Times reported. Wave Megacity Centre Ltd is developing commercial and residential projects in sectors 25A and 32 of Noida, Uttar Pradesh. It has asked NCLT to initiate the insolvency proceedings "due to failure of...