News

Reserve Bank of India's Q2 review prompts two India banks to defer 8 percent promo loans.

HSBC wants to capitalise on the growth of investments in China, India and Malaysia.

What you do on your own time is, well, apparently the bank's business these days, with DBS Bank publicly rebuking an employee for being elected president of woman's advocacy group AWARE and calling for less focus on lesbian issues.

According to Reuters, Woori Finance is currently 73 percent owned by the South Korean government.

LIC has set up a team looking into Islamic products. However, a Reserve Bank of India study has recently concluded that Islamic banking may not be feasible in the current regulatory framework in the country.

According to Top News, The move is a clear indication of increased optimism among executives, who are looking at terminating the business.

Hang Seng’s strong capital position prompts HSBC to woo investors to take part in the former’s growth potential.     Body:  HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad has introduced the 4-Year MYR Equity Linked (Hang Seng Bank Ltd) Structured Investment which provides customers the opportunity to invest in the potential growth of Hang Seng Bank Ltd, according to a report in the Bernama. A member of the HSBC Group, Hang Seng Bank was awarded the Best Retail Bank in Hong Kong by The Asian Banker. Hang Seng Bank's capital position remains strong with a Tier 1 ratio of 13.1 per cent (relative to the industry ratio of 8 per cent) and capital adequacy ratio of 16.6 per cent. As of June 2009, its mainland business contributed 11.7 per cent to Hang Seng Bank's pre-tax profit, a 2.3 per cent increase from first-half of 2008. HSBC said the investment is available from Oct 1 to Oct 15, 2009 and a minimum investment amount of RM250,000 is required to be placed as principal for a four-year tenure.

Chanda Kochhar, managing director and chief executive officer, said at the sidelines of a seminar on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME):  “A lot of activities have come back in terms of re-starting projects. The fact that the projects are coming to financial closure indicates the sector will grow,” as reported in the Business Standard. 

DBS Group plans to set up a domestic private banking presence in China, as it sees onshore wealth management to be growing in importance and that new funds are flowing in from Asian investors, according to Reuters Wealth Management.

CBI Executive Director Arun Kaul said the HR move is part of $54-million modernization plan to cater tech-savvy consumers.

Pursuant to the agreement, the Chinese bank which is the world's biggest lender by market value, will buy Bangkok Bank's ACL Bank shares at 11.5 Thai baht ($0.34) apiece, as reported in China Knowledge. Bangkok Bank is Thailand’s largest lender.

HSBC is in advanced discussions to buy the retail and commercial banking assets of Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC in China, India, and Malaysia, according to a person familiar with the situation as reported in Wall Street Journal. The move is part of HSBC’s drive to expand its reach in Asian banking markets. The emergence of HSBC as the leading bidder comes after exclusive talks between RBS and Standard Chartered PLC over those assets have stalled over price, the person said. It's not clear that Standard Chartered is out of the race completely, but its bid appears to have lost momentum. HSBC is making a push to extend its reach further in Asia's relatively healthy banking markets. It is competing with Singapore's DBS Group Holdings Ltd. to buy the Asian private banking assets of ING Groep NV for around $1.5 billion in a contest that could be decided later this month. Last month, HSBC said it will return the principal office of the group chief executive to Hong Kong, a small but symbolic gesture to China, where it hopes to list its shares. "RBS is in ongoing discussions with bidders for the remaining assets it has decided to sell in Asia and will make further announcements, as appropriate, in due course," said RBS spokeswoman Yuk Min Hui in a statement.

Thanachart’s Chairman Banterng Tantivit said in a Reuters report on Oct 6: "It is in preparation in order to buy a stake in SCIB if we win the bid...and the rest will be used to boost our capital base". Under the plan, which got approval from a shareholder meeting Oct. 6, the bank would issue up to 4 billion new shares with a par value of 10 baht each to raise its registered capital to 59 billion baht from 19 billion baht. The share sale might be in one tranche or several tranches, according the bank's statement issued to its shareholders. Banterng declined to disclose the amount of funds for the acquisition until the bank completed due diligence.

The service will provide Standard Chartered Bank’s customers with a series of global services including financial solutions in banking transactions, loans, guaranties, investments, new products and high-quality services, in addition to attractive interest rates, said a report in VOV News.

Commenting on the move, bank’s Chairman and Managing Director MV Nair ,in a report in Business Standard, said: “These are difficult times. So, we want to save cost. In addition, though we are hiring, it takes time before the staff is properly trained to be posted at new branches”. The bank’s operating expenses increased to Rs 543 crore ($115.53 million) in June 2009 against Rs 416 crore ($88.51 million) in June 2008 - an increase of 35 per cent year-on-year, mainly due to implementation of project Nav Nirman, a scheme launched by Nair to put Union Bank among the top three public sector banks by 2012.The Mumbai-based bank was one of the few banks in the country which had chalked out major expansion plans. In comparison, other banks such as the State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and IDBI Bank are planning to add more than 500 branches in 2009-10. These three banks will go ahead with their expansion plans.In contrast to the Union Bank’s jeremiads of difficult times, an IDBI Bank executive said “Recruitments are less costly now. In addition, it is a good time to enter into property lease agreements as rates will go up soon”. Between April and December this year, IDBI Bank plans to add 200 new branches and will open the remaining branches in the fourth quarter. At the end of March, the erstwhile development financial institution had 595 branches.

South Korea's fourth-largest Hana Financial Group Inc., which on Monday announced that it was giving a thought on a rights offer, is considered to be preparing for an M&A bid, as reported in Xinhua . "As part of our capital plan, we are considering a rights offer in a range that won't damage the total shareholder value," Hana said in a regulatory filing. Local observers expect that the amount of rights offering may reach up to 2 trillion won ($1.7 billion), the media said. Hana's capital adequacy ratio and tier-1 capital ratio posted 12.1 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively, as of end-June, standing far above the level recommended by the nation's financial watchdog, which suggested the offers may not be related to improvement in the bank's capital sound, according to the media. With the money raised from the offer, Hana is likely to pursue financing an acquisition of a bank or a financial group, it said. Hana did not accept or reject the speculation.