A Hong Kong-listed oil explorer became the first casualty of the spectacular oil price slump in China’s offshore bond market, after defaulting on a dollar note, Bloomberg News reported. MIE Holdings Corp. failed to deliver an interest repayment of about $17 million for its 13.75% dollar bond due 2022 after a 30-day grace period expired Monday, according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange. This triggered cross defaults on other loan facilities, it said.

With China’s economy in free fall and millions of small businesses running low on cash, the online lending platform backed by billionaire Jack Ma entered crisis mode, Bloomberg News reported. It was mid-February, near the peak of China’s coronavirus outbreak, and MYbank had to decide whether to reduce its exposure or keep doling out loans. After a two-day marathon of calls and emails from self-isolation, the firm’s executives agreed with 25 partner banks on a potentially risky strategy: cut interest rates and turn on the credit taps like never before.

Credit Suisse Group AG was stung by the collapse of Luckin Coffee Inc. in China following an accounting scandal, which led to a five-fold increase in Asian loan-loss provisions, Bloomberg News reported. The Swiss bank set aside 97 million Swiss francs ($100 million) for soured loans, primarily related to three cases, the largest of which was Luckin Coffee, according to a person familiar with the matter. The bank only referred to a “Chinese food and beverage company” in its earnings statement Thursday.

Bad debt at Chinese banks climbed in the first quarter even as lenders deferred payments on and rolled over a combined 1.5 trillion yuan ($212 billion) in loans after the coronavirus outbreak brought the world’s second-largest economy to a standstill, Bloomberg News reported. After allowing banks to take a more lenient approach on how they classify bad debt, regulators in Beijing on Wednesday revealed the industry’s non-performing loan ratio nudged up just 0.06 percentage point to 2.04% at the end of March.

China’s painful economic shutdown was expected to have put the world’s second-largest bond market on course for a third straight record year of defaults. But it’s not panning out that way, Bloomberg News reported. The 30.4 billion yuan ($4.3 billion) worth of debt that’s gone sour so far this year in the $4.5 trillion onshore corporate bond market marks a sharp 21% drop from the pace in 2019, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The beleaguered HNA Group Co. has pulled off an escape from a domestic bond default after a hastily arranged creditor meeting that caused a stir in China’s investment community, Bloomberg News reported. The heavily indebted Chinese conglomerate said Wednesday it has garnered enough support from bondholders for a proposal to extend by one year the maturity of a 390 million yuan ($55 million) 7.1% note that originally comes due Wednesday, according to a company filing.

China’s $3 trillion trust industry, a key alternative source of funds for weaker companies, risks sending shock waves through the nation’s financial system with defaults among its investment products predicted to double this year under the strains of the coronavirus outbreak, Bloomberg News reported. The once fast-growing pocket of shadow banking in China has 5.4 trillion yuan ($766 billion) in trust offerings coming due this year, high-yield products backed by loans that are sold to banks, institutional investors and wealthy individuals.

Amid all China’s efforts to contain the economic damage of the coronavirus outbreak, a crucial development slipped by almost unnoticed -- the creation of the first national bad-debt asset manager in 20 years, Bloomberg News reported. Galaxy Asset Management Co. won approval in mid-March to convert into ​a financial asset management firm, gaining a much-coveted license to buy bad loans directly from banks nationwide, and the ability to borrow at relatively low rates.

Banks are under increased pressure to raise loan margins in the Greater China region as the coronavirus pandemic weakens lending and a global dollar liquidity squeeze pushes up funding costs, Bloomberg News reported. That’s a key takeaway from a Bloomberg survey of 15 major syndicated loan arrangers operating in the region, including international and Chinese banks. The survey was conducted between March 30 and April 1.

Swissport International AG, the airport ground services firm owned by beleaguered Chinese conglomerate HNA Group Co., hired advisers to review its debt as passenger air traffic grinds to a halt because of coronavirus restrictions, Bloomberg News reported. The company appointed Houlihan Lokey Inc. as financial adviser as it considers a restructuring of its 1.6 billion euros ($1.7 billion) of debt, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the appointment is private.