Australia's corporate regulator has urged the country's financial sector to take urgent action on tackling potential cyber risks from frontier AI systems such as Mythos, Reuters reported. The Australian Securities and ‌Investments Commission on Friday published a letter sent to the financial services industry saying greater action needed to ‌be taken to ensure cybersecurity practices were as strong as possible.

Australia's financial intelligence unit AUSTRAC has launched two targeted supervisory campaigns into the country's virtual assets sector as landmark anti-money laundering reforms take effect, Decrypt.com reported. "AUSTRAC is checking how well crypto businesses in Australia are managing money-laundering risks, ahead of major new laws coming into force," said the regulator’s Chief Executive Officer Brendan Thomas in a statement. AUSTRAC is conducting two distinct supervisory campaigns targeting crypto businesses across Australia.

Japanese authorities likely refrained from intervening in the currency market on Thursday, the first business day of this week, after multiple apparent actions during the long holiday weekend, according to a Bloomberg analysis of central bank accounts. The latest figures come as analysts try to gauge the scale of the latest salvo of yen buying and compare it with a similar campaign of intervention in 2024.

AdEnterprises has filed a caveat before the Supreme Court, anticipating a challenge by Vedanta against the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal's (NCLAT) verdict upholding Adani Group's resolution plan for debt-ridden Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL), the Economic Times of India reported. A caveat is an application filed before a court by a party requesting that no order be passed in a matter without first hearing it.

Malaysia’s central bank once again left interest rates unchanged as inflation remains contained and the economy shows resilience amid disruptions caused by the Middle East conflict, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bank Negara Malaysia kept its overnight policy rate at 2.75% on Thursday, holding steady since it delivered a 25-basis-point cut in July last year.

Australia's top wagering and gaming firm ‌Tabcorp has come under regulatory scrutiny over its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing processes, triggering a 28% drop in its shares on Thursday in their worst intraday trade to date, Reuters reported. Tabcorp said ​that the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) had identified "serious concerns" over its ​ability to identify, mitigate and manage money-laundering and terrorism-financing risks effectively.

China's financial regulator advised the country’s largest lenders to temporarily suspend new loans to five refineries recently sanctioned by the US over their ties to Iranian oil, Bloomberg News reported. The National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA) asked banks to review their exposure and business dealings with firms, including Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery, one of China’s largest private refiners, while awaiting further guidance. For now, banks have been guided not to extend new yuan-denominated credit, though they have also been told not to call in existing loans.

Japan faces no constraints on how often it can ​intervene in currency markets and is in daily contact with U.S. authorities, its top currency diplomat said on Thursday, reinforcing Tokyo's resolve to defend the embattled yen, Reuters reported. The remarks ‌by Atsushi Mimura come ahead of a visit to Japan next week by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, placing the yen, possible intervention and the Bank of Japan's rate path firmly under the spotlight as investors weigh whether Tokyo can shore up its currency on its own, or will need U.S. backing to do so.

Last year saw the highest-ever number of Japanese hair salons filing for bankruptcy at 235, breaking the record set in 2024 with 215 bankrupt hair stylists, JapanToday.com reported. This also had an effect on the average lifespan of salons, which could expect to survive for 13 years in 2025, down from 14.1 years in 2024. Also, of the currently active salons, 49 percent are less than 10 years old. To make matters much worse, many salons can’t even find enough staff to operate.