Bloomberg The bad loan ratio in India’s banking sector is forecast to swell to the highest level in more than two decades after a prolonged lockdown hurt businesses and left millions jobless. Soured assets will rise to 12.5% of total advances by March 2021 — highest since the financial year started 1999 — from 8.5% a year earlier, the Reserve …

Bloomberg South Africa is in talks with non-banking lenders to join its 200 billion rand ($12 billion) loan-guarantee measures as it seeks to improve access to finance for businesses hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The government-backed program will have less stringent approval processes and extend repayment periods, the National Treasury, the South African Reserve Bank and the Banking Association of …

Bloomberg The Bank of Japan (BOJ) may have adopted a new standard in deciding when to support stocks, according to Seiichi Suzuki, a market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute Co. While market consensus has it that the BOJ purchases ETFs when the Topix index falls at least 0.5%, recent buying patterns have changed, Suzuki said. “The bar for ETF …