Headlines

Local governments in some Chinese cities owe property developers 1 billion yuan ($137 million) to 2 billion yuan each in unpaid bills, according to a local media report, with pressure building on the authorities to pay their debt, Bloomberg News reported. The outstanding amounts owed to the property firms include tax rebates and promised reimbursement of land sale fees, Economic Observer reported late Monday, citing unidentified executives at developers.

China’s stock market was plunging and its currency was teetering. The head of the central bank, fielding questions at a rare news conference, said that China would make it easier to get home mortgages. It was February 2016 and Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank’s longtime governor at the time, announced what proved to be the start of an extraordinary blitz of lending by China’s immense banking system. Minimum down payments for buying apartments were reduced, triggering a surge in construction. Vast sums were also lent to local governments, allowing them to splurge on new roads and rail lines.

The Indonesian government is reviewing a plan to merge state-owned airlines Garuda Indonesia and Pelita Air, a unit of energy firm Pertamina, to ensure affordable airfares, an executive said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The plan came a year after Garuda reached an agreement with its creditors to restructure its $9 billion debt.

Binance is helping Russians move money abroad, potentially adding to its sprawling legal problems in the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reported. The cryptocurrency giant, led by founder Changpeng Zhao, joined many other major international companies early last year in scaling back its business in Russia, one of its largest markets by trading volume at the time. After Russia invaded Ukraine, Binance said it had stopped working there and was implementing Western sanctions requirements. It restricted trading on its platform in Russia.

Canada's big bank results are expected to bring to light a number of challenges as lenders set aside more funds for bad loans in a tough economy that has also led to a slowdown in dealmaking and forced borrowers to rethink about new mortgages, Reuters reported. The big six banks, which control a majority of the market in the country, have had to brace for macroeconomic uncertainties and build reserves while also ensuring they have enough capital to meet new regulatory requirements in case of uncertainties.

Thailand's second-biggest lender Kasikornbank is in talks to buy consumer finance provider Home Credit Vietnam in a deal of up to $1 billion that would further its push to expand in Vietnam, Reuters reported. The Bangkok-based lender, also called KBank, hopes to become one of Vietnam's top 20 banks in terms of assets by 2027. It has total assets worth $119.7 billion, second only to Bangkok Bank in Thailand, Refinitiv data showed.

When United Kingdom housebuilder Crest Nicholson Holdings Plc reported its first-half results in June, it expected full-year profit to meet expectations of just under £75 million (£73.7 million to be exact). This morning it slashed that outlook to “around £50 million.” It mostly comes back to the ongoing stand-off between buyers and sellers in the U.K. housing market. Mortgages are much more expensive than they were 18 months ago. Banks are happy enough to lend — keen, even, as Marcus points out.

At a moment when the U.S. is trying to reset its tense relationship with China, states across the country are leaning into anti-Chinese sentiment and crafting or enacting sweeping rules aimed at severing economic ties with Beijing, the New York Times reported. The measures, in places like Florida, Utah and South Carolina, are part of a growing political push to make the United States less economically dependent on China and to limit Chinese investment over concerns that it poses a national security risk.

Kenya’s central bank reopened a sale of treasury bonds offered last week in a move aimed at keeping a lid on financing costs after investors demanded higher yields, Bloomberg News reported. The Central Bank of Kenya said Tuesday it would seek to raise 21 billion shillings ($145.4 million) from a tap sale of the two-year and five-year treasury bonds sold on Aug. 16. The auction comes after the central bank pushed back at investors demanding higher yields at its auction last week as it allotted only 19 billion shillings out of 53 billion shillings tendered for its debt sale.

The Bank of Japan is purchasing government bonds at a record pace this year, a factor that likely prompted its recent move to allow larger yield movements so as to reduce the strain on its control of longer-term interest rates, the Japan Times reported. Doubling the effective cap on benchmark yields in December and again last month has yet to significantly reduce the BOJ’s bond buying, raising the possibility that more changes will be needed to help rein in purchases.