THE South Korean won eased to a near one-week low on Monday, while China’s yuan took a breather from having racked up its biggest weekly drop in over a year last week on the increasing likelihood of a long-drawn Sino-US trade war.

CHINESE policy makers are holding back from rolling out the big guns of monetary stimulus, keeping options in reserve as the trade standoff with the US risks morphing into a global currency war.

TOKYO — Japan’s craze for overseas insurance products, driven by a need for better yield than the near-zero ones at home, has been a long-standing headwind for the yen as domestic insurers bought foreign bonds.

THE PESO is seen to move sideways this week amid a lack of fresh leads, with the market to be on the lookout for the latest currency news from China.

DEBT WATCHER S&P Global Ratings sees Philippine banks’ loan growth at double digits this year as the banking sector and the Asia-Pacific region’s stable outlook is seen steady despite headwinds arising from trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

YIELDS ON government securities (GS) fell across-the-board last week following the central bank’s decision to cut benchmark interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point.

DAVAO CITY -- Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK) is extending a P30-million loan facility to BCS Credit Cooperative to help expand its financing program to its members, particularly the small farmers and microentrepreneurs.

FORMER China central bankers warned Saturday of currency-war risks with the US after an abrupt escalation of trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies last week.

LENDERS trying to break into the booming private debt markets by wooing insurance companies may face an unexpected barrier to entry: credit ratings.

THE peso strengthened on Friday, returning to its P51-a-dollar level on the back of the expected 25-basis-point policy rate cut by the central bank on Thursday despite weaker-than-expected economic growth in the second quarter.

THAILAND’S Bank of Ayudhya (Krungsri) will buy a 50% stake in Security Bank Corp.’s consumer finance unit in a bid to boost its loan portfolio and expand retail offerings, the Philippine lender said in a statement on Friday.

PHILIPPINE National Bank’s (PNB) earnings fell to P3.9 billion in the six months to June from P5.4 billion a year earlier, which included a one-time gain from the sale of foreclosed assets, the lender said in a statement on Friday.