Hong Kong bankruptcy petitions rose 16.2 percent in May from the previous month to 718, but were down 9.5 percent from a year earlier, government data showed on Friday, Reuters reported. The number of bankruptcy petitions totalled 3,375 for the first five months of 2011, down 15.4 percent from a year earlier. Bankruptcy orders totalled 3,356 for January-May, down 14.8 percent from a year earlier. Data on Thursday showed unemployment at 3.5 percent in March-May 2011.

Hong Kong banks may have succeeded where the government failed as rising mortgage rates curb home price gains and cut sales to the lowest level in two years, signaling the property market may have peaked, Bloomberg reported. HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA), which controls two of the city’s three- biggest banks by customers, is among lenders that accelerated mortgage rate increases in April as liquidity dried up.

The first yuan-denominated share to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange is laying the groundwork for a "seismic change" when China allows its citizens to invest abroad more freely, the exchange's head said. In an exclusive interview with The Wall Street Journal, Charles Li, chief executive of Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd., said exchange officials are preparing for much greater outbound investment from China that would drive demand for yuan-linked products in Hong Kong.

Sixteen Hong Kong banks have agreed on a deal to enable investors in structured products of the now bankrupt Lehman Brothers recover a majority of their investments, Reuters reported. Investors in Hong Kong lost nearly $2.5 billion on structured products, called 'minibonds' offered by U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers, which collapsed in 2008. A statement from receivers PricewaterhouseCoopers on Sunday said the agreement was to result in most of Lehman's minibond investors recovering over 80 percent of their original investment from the underlying collateral.

Hong Kong bankruptcy petitions in January fell 10.5 percent to 630 from December and were down 22.6 percent compared with a year earlier, government data showed on Friday, Reuters reported. The number of bankruptcy orders totalled 613 in January, down 33.4 percent from a year earlier. Hong Kong's economy has bounced back strongly from the global financial crisis. Last November, the Hong Kong government revised upwards its full-year 2010 GDP growth forecast to 6.5 percent from a previous forecast of 5-6 percent.

Hong Kong bankruptcy petitions totalled 704 in December, up 3.4 percent from November but down 22.4 percent compared with the same month last year, government data showed on Friday, Reuters reported. The number of bankruptcy petitions totalled 9,102 for the whole of 2010, down 42.3 percent from a year earlier. Bankruptcy orders stood at 9,163 for the year 2010, down 43.3 percent from a year ago. Hong Kong's economy has bounced back strongly from the global financial crisis.

Hong Kong audit firm JBPB & Co., formerly called Grant Thornton, is suing six former partners for a minimum HK$640 million ($82.3 million) alleging that they failed to "act honestly and in good faith" to advance the plaintiff's business interests, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The suit, filed on Dec.

The International Monetary Fund warned Thursday it sees increasing risks of a property bubble in Hong Kong due to continued liquidity inflows and rock-bottom interest rates coupled with tight housing supply, and it urged the city's government to take further measures to rein in the booming real-estate market if asset-price inflation continues, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Allied Farmers, which took on the Hanover and United loan books in a failed bid to become a major lender, faces losing another $7 million after HSBC pulled the credit line on one of the firm's subsidiaries, ShareChat.co.nz reported. The Hong Kong-based lender called its $19 million loan facility to Matarangi Beach Estates after Allied refused to put up the same guarantee as the previous owners, Eric Watson and Mark Hotchin, who had poured the vehicle into Hanover to try to keep it afloat.

Hong Kong bankruptcy petitions in July fell 1.07 percent to 833 from June and were down 43.5 percent from a year earlier, government data showed on Friday, Reuters reported. The number of bankruptcy petitions totalled 5,664 for the first seven months of 2010, down 46.8 percent from a year earlier. Bankruptcy orders stood at 5,629 for January-July, down 46.6 percent from a year earlier. Last week, the government raised its full-year economic growth forecast for 2010 to 5-6 percent from the previous forecast of 4-5 percent.