A spurt in the U.S. dollar and China's defence of the yuan are forcing Asian central banks to step up interventions in their weakening currencies, and one clear casualty is their desire to slowly ease monetary policy to shore up cooling economic growth. Central banks from Indonesia, South Korea and the Philippines kept rates unchanged as expected this month. But investors who were hoping they would hint at eventual rate cuts, citing cooling inflation and the need for stimulatory economic settings, found instead the focus had turned to currency weakness.
Nitin Bhatnagar, a former relationship manager of the Bank of Singapore, has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a bank fraud and money laundering case involving Ratul Puri, the nephew of former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath.