China

The People’s Bank of China hopes to avert mounting economic unrest with a series of measures that include more support for struggling entrepreneurs and relaxing curbs on investment and lending.

Europe continues to be the happy hunting ground for leading Asian banks seeking growth through mergers and acquisitions.

Bank of China and Japan's Mizuho Financial are among the banks eyeing parts of the Royal Bank of Scotland.

China's listed banks are expected to raise over 100 billion yuan or $15.78 billion through equity financing next year.

Shanghai Pudong Development Bank's 2011 preliminary net profit rose 42.02 percent year-on-year to 27.24 billion yuan. Revenues for the Shanghai-based lender jumped 35.38 percent from one year earlier to 67.5 billion yuan. Earnings per share increased to 1.46 yuan, according a statement filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The bank's preliminary net profit beat market expectations, as the United Bank of Switzerland previously estimated the lender's profit at 25.39 billion yuan. Total assets rose to 2.69 trillion yuan at the end of 2011, up 22.77 percent from the end of 2010, while the non-performing loan ratio fell 0.07 percentage points to 0.44 percent, the statement said. For the source of this story. click here.

Banking services were still absent in 1,696 remote towns and townships at the end of 2011.

China's cross-bank card transaction surged 35 percent year-on-year to a record high during the three-day New Year holiday.

The China Banking Regulatory Commission has postponed the implementation of new criteria for commercial lenders to the second half of 2012. This is in response to current economic conditions and looser monetary policies, said an official, reports Xinhua News.

Standard Charetred Bank will continue to hire this year in Asia, according to  the Asian head of Standard Chartered Plc Jaspal Bindra.

Hua Nan Financial is seeking a 20 percent stake in Fujian Haixia Bank, in what would be the first direct banking investment between Taiwan and China.

Local government debts in China are being reclassified as general corporate loans to ease banks’ provisioning requirements for potential bad loans.

The lender plans to increase presence in Kunshan, where many Taiwanese investors have formed manufacturing clusters.

The first six Taiwanese lenders given license in China may soon be allowed to offer Renminbi services.

The bank beefs up market focus on China and Southeast Asia with key promotions in Hong Kong and Singapore.

A momentous step forward has recently been taken by the Chinese government in its quest to apply a Value Added Tax (VAT) across both its goods and services sectors.

China’s informal and unregulated shadow banking system has grown rapidly in the past two years, and now accounts for over one-fifth of total credit in the economy. Among the reasons for this rapid growth are: (i) efforts by depositors to shift from standard bank accounts to higher yielding wealth management products; and (ii) incentives for lenders to circumvent tighter prudential regulations imposed on the formal banking system. The shadow banking system has played a useful function in the past, by channeling credit to profitable businesses, especially SMEs that might otherwise have been credit constrained.