China

Chinese real estate brokerage agencies need to implement reasonable reductions to fees for housing transactions and leasing services to promote healthy development of the sector, the housing regulator said on Monday, Reuters reported. Some real estate brokers in recent years "have charged excessive, unclear and bound fees, and misused clients' personal information, which has increased the burden on parties to transactions and infringed their legal rights", the regulator said in a notice.

A string of failed IPOs at one of the world’s largest mall operators is reviving concerns about the ability of China’s beleaguered property market to recover from prolonged Covid restrictions, Bloomberg News reported. Dalian Wanda Group, owned by billionaire Wang Jianlin, failed to list its mall operator unit for a third time since 2021 after its latest application expired.

China's factory activity unexpectedly contracted in April as orders fell and poor domestic demand dragged on the sprawling manufacturing sector, a private survey showed on Thursday, imperilling the broader economic outlook for the second quarter, Reuters reported. The Caixin/S&P Global manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to 49.5 in April from 50.0 in March. The 50-point index mark separates growth from contraction on a monthly basis.

KWG Group Holdings Ltd. securities tumbled Tuesday after the firm became the latest Chinese developer to default, even as new-home sales gain steam nationally, Bloomberg News reported. The company didn’t pay 212 million yuan ($31 million) of principal due Friday on bank and other borrowings, it said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing that night. The delinquency triggered 31.2 billion yuan of debt becoming repayable on demand.

The International Monetary Fund’s chief said China is shifting its thinking about participating in debt restructuring after being confronted by countries unable to pay what they owe, signaling hope the world’s second-largest economy will help provide relief for distressed nations, Bloomberg News reported. China — now the biggest lender to developing economies — has joined traditional western creditors from the Paris Club in recognizing the need to create a better mechanism for debt overhauls, Kristalina Georgieva said.

Embattled property developer China Evergrande Group said on Thursday it would extend the deadline for receiving an incentive for its debt restructuring proposal to May 18 as the company disclosed levels of support from offshore debt-holders for its proposal, Reuters reported. Evergrande said that 77% holders of class-A debts and 30% holders of class-C debts have submitted their respective support for the restructuring proposal, among others.

South Korea's exports fell for a seventh straight month in April for their longest losing streak in three years, driven by an extended slump in sales to China and suggesting persistent pressure on the economy from frail global demand, Reuters reported. The downturn comes despite the reopening of the Chinese economy - a major market for South Korean goods and especially for chips - in December, and raises the challenge for policymakers as they push for a robust post-COVID revival.

China's banking and insurance regulator said it would enhance credit support and lower the actual financing costs of small and micro enterprises this year to better support economic recovery, Reuters reported. In a statement on Thursday, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) said financial institutions should provide reasonable credits to small businesses, while preventing the risk of "over-lending". The CBIRC said it aims to improve the quality of financial services for small and micro enterprises, to promote market vitality and boost confidence.

In the latest official scrutiny of a prominent American business in China, the authorities visited the Shanghai offices of the U.S. management consulting firm Bain & Company this month to question its employees, the New York Times reported. In a written statement, Bain said that it is “cooperating as appropriate with the Chinese authorities,” but declined to comment on the nature of the investigation and whether its employees’ phones and computers had been seized during the visit.

China's cabinet on Wednesday unveiled plans to boost employment, including supporting financial institutions to offer loans to small firms and issuing subsidies to firms that hire college graduates or unemployed young people, Reuters reported. The world's second-largest economy reported better-than-expected growth in the first quarter after the lifting of stringent COVID-19 curbs, but the jobless rate for those aged 16 to 24 rebounded close to a record high in March, creating a headache for policymakers.