Headlines

Malaysia is considering initiating legal proceedings against banks related to the troubled 1MDB state fund, as the government works to recoup assets lost from the multibillion-dollar scandal, Bloomberg News reported. “A number of foreign banks” facilitated fund transfers linked to 1MDB without conducting proper processes “at that material time,” Johari Abdul Ghani, who leads a taskforce to recover 1MDB assets, said in a statement. He did not identify the banks.

The former CEO of Brazilian retail giant Americanas SA was mostly invisible to the public. He avoided press interviews, was distant from investors and analysts — and very few public photos of him even exist, Bloomberg News reported. Now, Miguel Gutierrez is infamous. In the year since a 25 billion reais ($5 billion) accounting fraud scandal erupted at his former company and tarnished the reputation of its billionaire shareholders, the Rio de Janeiro native has relocated to Spain while Brazilian investigators continue their probe.

China's plunging stock market is leading to losses on billions of dollars worth of derivatives linked to the country's equity indexes, forcing a vicious cycle of selling in stocks and futures contracts as market participants manage their risks, Reuters reported. Stock markets in Hong Kong, opens new tab and in mainland China plunged on Monday, extending a long spell of weakness driven by an exit of foreign investors alarmed by China's wobbly economy and a lack of stimulus measures.

Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda kept investors in the dark over when he will scrap the world’s last negative interest rate while leaving little doubt that a move is in the pipeline, Bloomberg News reported. The BOJ maintained its -0.1% short-term rate and kept its yield curve control parameters intact Tuesday. It also updated its price and growth forecasts with no overall change to the picture of an economy heading slowly toward its first rate hike since 2007.

Romania is tapping international markets for the first time in 2024 to take advantage of high demand for emerging-market debt after its regional peers went ahead with euro and dollar offerings to fund their budget deficits, Bloomberg News reported.

Thailand's central bank chief, under fire from the prime minister for not cutting rates, said slower-than-expected economic growth was not a crisis as portrayed by the government, nor would it be revived by its quick-hit stimulus measures, Reuters reported. The Bank of Thailand's current policy rate is broadly neutral, Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput told Reuters on Tuesday ahead of the central bank's next rate meeting on Feb. 7, adding that the country was not facing a deflationary situation.

An Australian regulator is reviewing how pension funds value unlisted assets, ranging from private equity to office towers, as part of a long-term push to limit risks within the illiquid holdings popular in the A$2.5 trillion ($1.7 trillion) sector, Reuters reported. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) requested information from multiple pension funds in late 2023 as part of the review into unlisted asset valuation governance, according to a previously unreported November 2023 letter seen by Reuters.

Four of Canada's biggest pension funds managing nearly C$1 trillion ($742 billion) in assets have begun a major expansion into private credit, moving into an area previously dominated by banks, Reuters reported. Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Investments, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP), Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (Omers) and OPTrust told Reuters they intend to increase their exposure to private credit - typically tailored loans to companies underwritten by non-banks.

The Danish company Nordic Waste has triggered a political scandal by filing for bankruptcy, EuroNews reported. The bankruptcy of the company - which deals with the reprocessing of contaminated soil - could cost taxpayers €27 million. After they post their bankruptcy filing, the Danish state will likely have to pay for the clean-up work required after a mega landslide at a reprocessing plant for contaminated soil. At the beginning of the week, the Ministry of the Environment issued interim injunctions against Nordic Waste. After that ruling, the company declared bankruptcy.

Terraform Labs, the company behind the stablecoin TerraUSD, which collapsed and roiled cryptocurrency markets in 2022, filed for chapter 11 protection, according to court papers filed on Sunday, Reuters reported. Singapore-based Terraform Labs, in a filing with the bankruptcy court in Delaware, listed assets and liabilities in the range of $100-$500 million. Terraform Labs said it would meet all financial obligations to employees and vendors during the Chapter 11 case without requiring additional financing. It also plans to continue Web3 offerings expansion.