Financial regulators across Asia are tightening oversight of how key interest rates are set and cracking down on signs of corruption, as a widening investigation into the banking industry world-wide unearths more evidence of systematic rate rigging. In Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority has stripped a banking-industry group of control and is phasing out some versions of the …

All this week we’ve been on a mission for you, dear reader. We’ve been looking for the one sector or industry that’s going to drive the Australian share market higher with breakthrough earnings and profits. But maybe we’ve been looking in the wrong place. Maybe it’s a simple as Japan. Japan is not a sector, of course. It’s an island …

Gold imports into China rose to an all time high last year according to a Bloomberg report. Driven by rising incomes, imports rose from 431.2 tonnes to a 834.5 tonnes according to data from the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong government. Imports in December alone were 114,405 kilograms, a monthly record. Demand is expected to be boosted …

THE use of the yuan worldwide surged to a record high in December partly due to increased yuan deposits in Hong Kong, a report showed yesterday. The monthly indicator that tracks the globalization of the yuan, compiled by the Standard Chartered Bank, jumped 2.8 percent, the largest since August 2012, to 748 in December from November’s 728 partly due to …

CHINA’S reliance on trade may decrease further as the country turns toward domestic consumption to drive the economy, the top customs authority said yesterday. The total value of imports and exports accounted for 47 percent of China’s gross domestic product in 2012, a sharp fall from a record 67 percent in 2006 and 50 percent in 2011, the General Administration …

Starbucks said Thursday it would open its first store in Vietnam next month, seeking a foothold in the coffee-loving country as part of efforts to expand in Asia. The communist country’s first Starbucks cafe will be in southern Ho Chi Minh City, the US beverage giant said in a joint statement with its local partner, Hong Kong’s Maxim Group. “Vietnam …

Asian and European banks registered as US swap dealers this week, joining Wall Street rivals in complying with new rules that aim to shed light on the opaque US$650 trillion derivatives market. Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and Nomura were among the swap dealers listed in the registry of the National Futures Association (NFA), a US regulator. But …

The share of euros in the world’s rising powers’ reserve holdings has fallen to its lowest level since 2002, dashing hopes that the single currency will soon challenge the US dollar for global primacy. International Monetary Fund data show that emerging nations have cut the weighting of EMU bonds in their reserves to 24.7pc from a peak of 30pc at …

Bangladesh Bank, the country’s monetary authority, is reviewing its Foreign Exchange Act with an eye on liberalising how the country deals with foreign capital, says Hassan Zaman, chief economist. The government is also considering issuing its first international bonds in order to create a yield curve. “I can’t share details of what’s under review,” Zaman says, “but it is comprehensive. …