News

Japanese banks lent  0.3 percent less in September compared from a year earlier, reports Reuters.

Vietnam's central bank is paving the way for mergers and acquisitions among banks to step up the restructuring of the sector hit by rising bad debt.

The move will provide the lender widest geographic RMB trade coverage among all foreign banks in China.

Hana shares soared on speculation that its takeover of KEB will progress as court proceedings seen to end.

Chinese lenders’ focus on corporate banking poses a threat to its Taiwanese counterparts in competing for patronage from Taiwanese enterprises.

Analyst say intervention of Central Huijin to shore up the banks shows that banks’ financial health is deteriorating.

Affin Investment Bank disbursed business zakat totalling RM2.58 million, reports Bernama News.

However, the bank’s profitability remains weak compared to other similar-sized Thai banks.

This despite the bank's four straight quarters of beats, according to a Reuters report.

Eleven work groups have been sent to oversee a bank bailout of private firms suffering from a liquidity crunch in a coordinated move to tackle the Wenzhou debt crisis.

Shares of China's banks rallied Central Huijin Investment Ltd started buying shares in the four major State-owned banks. But analysts said that the small increase in the benchmark Shanghai exchange index will not extend into a long-term rally. They said that it was only a short-term rebound in the A-share market, which fell to a 30-month low of 2,344.79 on Monday. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd gained 1.5 percent in Shanghai, the most in six weeks. China Construction Bank Corp, Agricultural Bank of China Ltd and Bank of China Ltd all climbed more than 2 percent The four banks did better in Hong Kong, where they are also listed, with ABC jumping 12 percent and the other three rising at least 5.8 percent. Central Huijin Investment Ltd, set up to hold government stakes in the banks, raised its holdings in the big four banks in the secondary market on Monday after the banks' valuations dropped below the level hit during the financial crisis in 2008. Central Huijin said it will continue with "related market operations" over the next 12 months. But it didn't say how much it will invest and whether it will buy the shares in Hong Kong or Shanghai. "The move by Central Huijin is a signal that the government has decided to take measures to prop up the stock market," said Wang Jianhui, chief economist with Southwest Securities Co Ltd. "But the effect will be limited because what investors worry most about are the fundamentals of the Chinese and global economies, which have not shown signs of improving." Xu Guangfu, an analyst with Xiangcai Securities Co Ltd, was more optimistic. He estimated that the rally would continue for as long as two months, with the index increasing 200 to 300 points. An analyst with a major foreign investment bank in Shanghai, who declined to be identified, interpreted Central Huijin's purchase as a move to raise its ownership, motivated by concern that the banks' repeated offerings will dilute its holdings.

Bank Muamalat has launched the Islamic Dual Currency Investment, to be initially offered in the Malaysian Ringgit, Euro and US Dollars to wholesale customers, reports Bernama News.

The State Bank of Vietnam allowed 2 more commercial banks to sell gold deposits to intervene the local gold market.

The South Korean lender targets expanding its sales activity in South America through its Spanish partner.

The $5bn update seen to boost the program whose preceeds will be used to fund the bank’s general business.

The MOU seen as a positive development toward broader and more efficient banking services in Indonesia.