Banks, Asia | featured news

Japan is making a sweeping shift in its monetary policy, aiming to spur inflation and get the world's third-largest economy out of a long, debilitating slump. Bowing to demands from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for more aggressive monetary easing, the Bank of Japan announced Thursday a policy overhaul intended to double the money supply and achieve a 2 percent inflation target at the "earliest possible time, with a time horizon of about two years."

China's economy hasn't shown any signs of rebounding in the third quarter, and domestic investment is unlikely to expand dramatically in the short term, a central bank adviser said.

China's second surprise rate cut and lending reform in the space of a month shows that Beijing wants borrowing to play a greater role in reviving an economy struggling with its weakest pace of growth since the global financial crisis.

As Myanmar opens up after five decades of military rule, a country run on cash is finding a new alternative: plastic.

China's central bank cut the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves on Saturday, freeing an estimated 400 billion yuan ($63.5 billion) for lending to head-off the risk of a sudden slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.

China loosens its currency controls in a move that may spur gains in the value of the yuan. From Monday, the yuan can fluctuate up to 1% in trading against the US dollar from a fixed price set by the central bank, the People's Bank of China said.

The China Banking Regulatory Commission has begun an investigation into bank fees and warned that banks found to be charging high fees for routine services will be punished. It didn't say how it defines high fees.

A decision by European central banks to support the region's financial system helped calm Asian markets, setting off a rally across the region in Friday trading....

European stock futures declined Wednesday as Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Societe Generale SA and Credit Agricole SA and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said developed nations should not rely on China to bail them out. U.S. futures and Asian shares dropped.

Which means there's much more. In a closed-door government meeting, China Banking Regulatory Commission chairman Liu Mingkang announced that $470 billion was moving through so-called "black" banks in the country's Eastern provinces alone, according to Asia Times Online.