China

Lenders were found to be favouring borrowers with deposits at their banks, linking loans to the sale of other products, and illegally charging financing fees.

Eight new cross-border ETFs have started trading on the Shanghai and Tokyo stock exchanges, just days after FTSE Russell started including China A shares in its indexes.

Certain funds can lend stocks to the state-owned China Securities Finance Corp, which can then lend to brokers, who facilitate investor short selling.

The crackdown on shadow banking activities will continue to moderate this year as China prioritises economic growth and smaller banks continue to face funding pressures, Moody's said.

Brokers will be allowed to issue more debt to maintain liquidity in the interbank market. But some say the liquidity crunch is a normal process to restore risk control and force out bad players.

A US district court has reportedly found three Chinese state-owned banks in contempt for failing to comply with requests for evidence related to a North Korea sanction probe.

Under the new arrangement, northbound Stock Connect investors will be able to hedge yuan exposures using the onshore exchange rate for the first time.

The banker disclosed deal information to two associates in 2017, allowing them to profit from inside information related to Cosco Shipping's acquisition of Orient Overseas.

Bank of China now has access to clearing of interest rate derivatives at LCH, and can act as a clearing broker to offer the service to its clients.

Nine leading brokerages and fund managers have reportedly been asked to provide liquidity support to smaller securities firms and funds to help ease cash shortfalls.