BEIJING, March 18 Reuters China has changed the rules for consumer finance firms for the first time in a decade, setting a higher bar for nonbank financial businesses providing small personal loans in the world39;s secondlargest economy. The stricter measures, which will take effect on April 18, come amid a regulatory tightening across China39;s financial […]

TOKYO, March 18 Reuters As Japan nears an end to eight years of negative interest rates, a regional lender in Kyoto is offering elearning to train up staff who have no experience lending money or collecting deposits in a positive interest rate environment. One of the sessions, targeting roughly 3,300 Bank of Kyoto employees, explains why […]

SINGAPORE, March 18 Reuters Even as the Bank of Japan prepares for a pivotal change in monetary policy, analysts say much more will need to be done to materially shift the roughly 3 trillion of yen Japanese investors have parked in global bond markets and yen trades. Japanese investors have invested trillions of yen overseas […]

BEIJING, March 18 Reuters China39;s industrial output grew 7.0 yearonyear in the JanuaryFebruary period, data showed on Monday, accelerating from the 6.8 pace seen in December and beating expectations, marking a solid start for 2024 and offering tentative relief to policymakers. The reading released by the National Bureau of Statistics NBS was significantly above expectations […]

TOKYO, March 18 Reuters Japan39;s core machinery orders fell more than expected in January on the back of a weak manufacturing sector, data showed on Monday, prompting the government to downgrade its view on the indicator for the first time in more than a year. The data, released on Monday by the Cabinet Office, follows […]

HONG KONG, March 18 Reuters The number of new marriages in China jumped 12.4 in 2023 from a year earlier, reversing a downtrend that has lasted for almost a decade as more youth tied the knot after delaying their nuptials due to the COVID19 pandemic. The number of newlyweds rose to 7.68 million last year, […]

March 18 Reuters U.S. central bankers are not expected to cut borrowing costs this week, but their new economic projections may be a wild card, potentially signaling fewer interest rate cuts and a later start to the policy easing than they previously had estimated. Keeping interest rates at the current high levels for a longer […]