Chinese Vice President Han Zheng pledged on Friday to provide more opportunities for foreign companies in China as the government tries to restore confidence in the world's second largest economy, the Associated Press reported. Han told an audience of American business people in Beijing that the government would continue to open up more industries to foreign investment and create a market-oriented and law-based international business environment. “China’s development achievements have been made through opening up," he said at an American Chamber of Commerce in China banquet.

Canada's government said on Thursday it would invest up to C$10.5 billion ($7.74 billion) savings it has gleaned from departmental expenditures into healthcare and housing over the next three years, Reuters reported. The move is a first phase in repurposing some government spending that was announced in the 2023-24 budget. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government is facing calls from the opposition to cut the budget deficit, and the central bank has also warned that any new spending could delay interest rate cuts.

Some energy companies are still failing to pay millions of dollars in taxes, says a survey released this week by the Rural Municipalities of Alberta, CBC.com reported. Oil and gas producers missed $43 million in payments last year, the group says. "Year after year, the problem drags on due to a lack of industry regulation and accountability," said president Paul McLauchlin in a news release. The association found oil and gas companies owe the communities in which they operate nearly $252 million in all. That's down slightly from last year's total of $268 million.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Wednesday told Byju’s to respond to two separate insolvency petitions filed against the troubled edtech firm by US lenders and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the Economic Times of India reported.

The Bank of England may sell all the U.K. government bonds bought under quantitative easing to better prepare for a future crisis, a move that would put it at odds with the U.S. Federal Reserve, Bloomberg News reported.

As fears about U.S. commercial real estate roiled German banks this month, their message was clear: don’t worry, the vast majority of our property exposure is domestic. That may not prove the comfort it seems, Bloomberg News reported. While the country has so far avoided the rapid market corrections that rattled the US, experts argue that reflects arcane accounting practices shielding its lenders and investors from taking immediate hits.

Bank of Nova Scotia missed analysts’ estimates for loan-loss provisions amid growing stress in consumer lending as the Canadian economy weakens as well as higher delinquencies among retail borrowers in its Latin American businesses, Bloomberg News reported. Provisions for credit losses rose to C$962 million ($713 million) in the fiscal first quarter, the Toronto-based bank said in a statement Tuesday. That was more than the C$922 million average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

With most of Canada’s biggest banks exposed to the U.S. commercial-property market, the deteriorating quality of some real estate loans could lead to nasty surprises as lenders report fiscal first-quarter results this week, Bloomberg News reported. Commercial-property lending accounts for about 10% of the loan books on average at Canada’s five largest banks. With the sector under pressure amid elevated interest rates and plunging valuations, banks have been booking higher provisions for potential credit losses for several quarters now.

Canadian budget airline Lynx Air has filed for court protection from creditors and will cease operations on Feb. 26, it said on Thursday, as it struggles with rising operating costs, high fuel prices and increasing airport charges, Reuters reported. Despite substantial growth in the business, cost reductions and efforts to explore a sale or merger, the challenges facing the business have become "too significant to overcome", the company said. The Calgary-based airline, which launched its inaugural flight in April 2022, said flights will continue to operate until 12:01 a.m. MT (2:01 a.m.

The FTX estate has agreed to drop a lawsuit that sought to claw back at least $323.5 million from the original owners of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange’s European unit, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Under a proposed settlement, the two main targets of the lawsuit—FTX Europe co-founders Patrick Gruhn and Robin Matzke—agreed to buy back the unit’s assets for $32.7 million. Details of the proposed settlement emerged in a Thursday court filing from the FTX estate. The deal still needs to be approved by a judge.