Source: Bloomberg The Bank of Thailand cut interest rates for the first time in more than two years and lowered its 2011 economic growth forecast as the nation reels from the worst floods in almost 70 years. The central bank reduced its one-day bond repurchase rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 3.25...

Source: Reuters There is no quick fix to Europe’s debt woes that threaten to escalate into a more widespread credit crunch, Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Kiyohiko Nishimura warned on Wednesday, voicing policymakers’ growing concern about the deepening damage from the crisis. Nishimura, known as one of more pessimistic board members, also said Tokyo must...

Source: Reuters Japan’s Olympus Corp has launched a review of its business structure, according to an internal memo, amid speculation that the 92-year-old company may have to sell assets in order to survive a massive accounting scandal. The maker of cameras and medical equipment is also looking to reform its much-criticised corporate governance arrangements, and...

Source: AFP Qantas said Monday the dispute that triggered a shock grounding of its fleet cost A$194 million (US$190 million) amid reports it is poised to shelve plans for a joint-venture premium airline in Asia. The Australian flag carrier said it expects to post an underlying net profit of A$140-$190 million in the first half...

Source: AFP Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Co told investors it is seeking to raise up to US$2.8 billion in an initial public offering that would create a new publicly listed giant in luxury goods. The company, controlled by Hong Kong real estate tycoon Cheng Yu-tung, on Monday started booking orders for 1.05 billion...

Source: Reuters Japan’s core consumer prices fell for the first time in four months in the year to October after a cigarette tax hike a year ago dropped out from calculations revealing persistent deflation caused by chronically weak domestic demand. In fact, November data for the Tokyo area showed deeper declines that exceeded analysts’ forecasts...

Source: Reuters The British ex-CEO of Japan’s Olympus Corp emerged from a frosty meeting of directors on Friday convinced its board would eventually quit over an accounting scandal engulfing the firm, but he said he was not “begging” to return and clean up the mess. Michael Woodford, still an Olympus director despite being fired as...

Source: Reuters KPMG’S chairman on Friday called for a global set of standards for the auditing industry and said the Olympus Corp scandal in Japan reveals evidence of “significant fraud.” Michael Andrew, the chairman, also outlined steps needed to improve the auditing industry in a in a speech entitled, “Fraud, Financial Crises and the Future...

Source: Bloomberg Standard & Poor’s said Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s administration has not made progress in tackling the public debt burden, an indication it may be preparing to lower the nation’s sovereign grade. “Japan’s finances are getting worse and worse every day, every second,” Takahira Ogawa, director of sovereign ratings at S&P in Singapore,...

Source: Reuters For weeks, Asian banks and businesses have seen their borrowing costs climb as cash-strapped European banks repatriate funds and cut back on loans, knowing full well this is merely a down-payment on a long and painful shrinking of funding markets. The impact so far of the eurozone’s messy debt crisis has been in...

Source: AFP The impact of the eurozone debt crisis on Asian companies should be “manageable” due to an increase in regional trade and a greater reliance on regional banks, Fitch Ratings said Thursday. “The first route by which the eurozone crisis could be transmitted to Asia is reduced demand for Asian exports. But those companies...

Source: AFP Hong Kong fixed-line operator PCCW said Wednesday it had priced the initial public offering of its telecoms unit at the low end of its target range, raising US$1.2 billion in a choppy market. Chairman Richard Li, son of Hong Kong’s richest man Li Ka-shing, had hoped to raise up to US$1.6 billion but...