China

Bank of China Ltd opens office in Dubai.

Chinese bankcard spending surged as travel-related expenditures and shopping increased during the New Year.

Shanghai Pudong Development Bank's profits reach 34.16 billion yuan (5.43billion U.S. dollars) last year.

Industrial Bank Company Limited can now issue no more than 1.92 billion additional A shares to specific investors.

Its offshore settlement reached RMB948bn, a 30% market share.

Thanks to a more generous Basel III timeline released in December.

Small banks outperformed their large cap peers in December.

The scheme aims to centralise foreign currency management for multinational companies.

Urgent internal circular orders banks to check sales of third-party products.

Minsheng Bank's micro-lending topped 300 billion yuan or US$47.62 billion.

China government issued "internal and extra urgent" notice last Friday.

It's up from the CNY8t target in FY12.

Potential management transitions could sink BOC and ICBC's NPLs.

China’s evolving financial system has required the central bank to change its tools. Capital outflows and the gradual liberalization of the yuan mean that the era of sterilized intervention is ending. A new governor could move the PBoC towards a more conventional market-based policy, although the overall policy stance is still expected to be set by the government for the foreseeable future. Monetary policy in China has traditionally had three levers: interest rates, reserve ratios and the currency. The State Council (made up of the premier, vice premiers, and heads of various government departments, including the central bank) decides on lending and deposit rates, while the People's Bank of China has discretion over commercial bank reserve ratios. Each can influence policy on the currency, although the State Council has the final say.

Whilst there was general agreement on the need to reform the global financial system after the 2007 financial crisis, the impact of the revised regulations published in 2009 by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) has been felt far and wide.

It could increase to 50% in 2014.