China

China’s biggest banks are resisting government pressure to lower borrowing costs amid an economic slowdown as they seek to maintain the profitability of their lending operations, officials at the top four lenders said, Bloomberg reported. The banks are limiting discounts for their best corporate clients to 10 percent of the benchmark lending rate, the officials said, asking not to be identified as they’re not authorized to speak publicly. The central bank in July began allowing lenders to offer credit at 30 percent less than the benchmark rates.

Shareholders have been quietly shoved aside in the court-ordered restructuring of Sino-Forest Corp. — and they feel a lack of legal counsel is partly to blame, the Financial Post reported. Last week, veteran Bay Street lawyer Joe Groia agreed to take up the case of disgruntled Sino shareholders, who are furious about their treatment during the CCAA process. But he may be too late.

The difficulties of factory managers in Dongguan—a bellwether export town in the southern province of Guangdong—offer a glimpse of the broader challenges facing the world's No. 2 economy as global demand cools for Chinese-made goods, The Wall Street Journal reported. China's exports were up 7.1% in the first eight months of this year from a year earlier, slowing sharply from the 20.3% growth logged for all of last year. Guangdong's exports rose 5.9%, down from 17.3% last year.

General Motors Co on Friday dismissed claims made in a $3 billion lawsuit filed by Saab's parent that the U.S. automaker deliberately bankrupted the Swedish company by blocking a deal with a Chinese investor, Reuters reported. GM, in a response filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, said the automaker had the legal right to approve Saab's transaction with China's Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co. "The nub of plaintiffs' complaint is that GM declined to approve the transaction plaintiffs proposed to enter into with Youngman," GM said in the filings.

Troubled Chinese forestry company Sino-Forest Corp., which has been accused of being a massive fraud, said Thursday that its former chief financial officer David Horsley is no longer employed by the firm, The Canadian Press reported. Horsley, who stepped down as chief financial officer in April after receiving an enforcement notice from the Ontario Securities Commission, had continued to work at the company to help with its restructuring. No reason was given for his departure in the brief statement by Sino-Forest announcing the change.

Ecuador’s inability to borrow in international markets after its 2008 default is drawing the nation closer to China as the world’s largest commodities consumer grants loans in exchange for access to oil and metals, Bloomberg reported. Home to untapped copper reserves similar to those of Chile and Peru, the world’s top producers, Ecuador has signed loans for $7.3 billion from China since 2009, or about one-third of the Andean country’s annual budget, according to data compiled by Bloomberg based on government announcements.

China's bank lending rose strongly in August to a new record level for the month, a clear sign the government is trying to reverse an economic slowdown that threatens to cost jobs and undermine support for the Communist Party, the Irish Times reported. New local currency lending was 703.9 billion yuan (€87 billion) last month, the People’s Bank of China said in Beijing. That was more than the 600 billion yuan (€73.8 billion) analysts had expected, and outstripped July’s 540 billion yuan (€66.4 billion) lent in July.

Although Chinese lenders don't disclose how many loans they extend or modify, the practice is becoming increasingly popular, according to companies and banking executives. The strategy—called "extend and pretend" by critics—is raising alarms among analysts and bank investors, The Wall Street Journal reported. They warn that it could add to banks' increasing piles of bad loans and may restrict banks' ability to lend to bolster the slowing economy.

China Medical Technologies Inc., a maker of diagnostic products, filed for Chapter 15 foreign-firm bankruptcy protection in New York, listing as much as $500 million in assets and debts, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. China Medical, which makes products to monitor various diseases including cancer, also listed foreign bankruptcy proceedings pending in the Cayman Islands, according to a petition posted in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. Chapter 15 helps shield overseas companies from U.S. lawsuits and creditor claims while a company continues the process abroad.

China pledged to continue to buy European bonds in a bid to help the euro zone resolve its debt crisis, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Thursday after meeting with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, underscoring Europe's growing importance to the Chinese economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. But Mr. Wen stopped short of concrete pledges and noted that China's purchases would require "fully evaluating risk," suggesting that meaningful aid still can't be assured. Mr. Wen expressed worries over Europe's debt troubles at a news conference jointly held with Ms.