News

Maybank became one of the best capitalised banks in Asia following the successful completion of its rights issue exercise on shares of Bursa Malaysia.

Sorry folks, but it's not the trading floor at Goldman Sachs. It is good news for India where the State Bank is looking to recruit 1300 staff next year as it grows to a $25 billion company.

Massive government-directed lending by China's top banks to roads and railroads risk repeating credit mistakes of 90's which cost $650 billion to clean up, warns Fitch.

Aussie ATM gas attacks up this year with six in the last three months alone as bandits find empty streets and cash-filled machines an easy target.

If you are Korean and broke, go elsewhere is the message, as Kookmin and Shinhan close 164 regular branches in favour of bigger “wealth centres” catering to upmarket clients.

Malaysia is set to overtake Singapore with the granting of an additional five licences to foreign banks by 2012 bringing the total to 18 compared to Singapore’s six Qualifying Full Banks.

Ex HSBC banker and now ANZ chief Mike Smith may be regretting pumping AUD1$million into his bank last year, given the bank just blew its profit forecast and cash profits fell by $716 million.

Fresh from raising US$61 million through a note issue, the Philippines’ largest bank says it wants to raise a further US$165 million through a rights issue for "future acquisitions," despite failing to bag Philamlife earlier this year.

India’s ICICI bank may face being labelled a foreign bank following changes to the country’s rules, and this could put pressure on its largest shareholder Temasek which owns around 20 percent of the bank.

HSBC will double its network in Hanoi to four outlets, in addition to its headquarters branch in Ho Chi Minh City.

Goldman Sachs Islamic Bank, anyone? It may seem the most unlikely of partners, but new banking liberalisation laws in Malaysia will let foreigners own up to 70 percent of an Islamic bank, up from 49 percent.

If the current economic environment isn’t challenging enough, nightmares of an impending strike from UOB workers in the Singaporean bank’s Indonesian arm UOB Buana have turned into a harsh reality. Not only has the strike affected the bank's operations nationwide, with at least 4,000 out of 5,800 staff taking part in the strike. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.Thousands of workers of UOB Buana Bank, a local unit of Singapore-based United Overseas Bank Ltd, launched a three-day strike on Monday, disrupting the bank’s operations nationwide. UOB labor union secretary general Endang Sutisna said the strike was launched after the management and workers failed to make a deal during a meeting on Sunday night over the workers’ demands for a pay rise and annual bonus payment. "We have been demanding it since January, but there has not yet been any response from the management, and the last night’s meeting was the climax to the problem," Endang said.He said at least 4,000 workers from 23 branch offices were joining the strike, which was expected to last until Wednesday. Currently, UOB employs 5,800 workers and operates 35 branches nationally. The strike has disrupted the bank’s operation as most of its branches could only provide limited service to customers with a majority of workers going for the strike, reported The Jakarta Post.The management announced in a letter distributed to the bank’s branches on Monday that only some branches in Jakarta, Surabaya, Semarang, Batam, Medan, Bandung, and Palembang were able to provide full services for customers. UOB director for corporate services Safrullah Hadi Saleh said the company had not yet calculated the losses from the strike, but "it would try to minimise the level, while trying to renegotiate with the workers."He said the company had asked the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry to mediate in negotiations. "We will meet again with the workers tomorrow (today) at the ministry’s office," Safrullah said.The meeting will discuss four proposals from the workers, including demands that the management increase workers' salaries by 26 percent and pay the 2008 annual bonus at the same level as in 2007.

How does a cut in your interest rate from 20 percent to 9 percent sound? Not great if you are a Taiwanese bank, which may see the government cap interest rates for unsecured credit and wipeout a quarter of their profits this year.

If the current economic environment isn’t challenging enough, nightmares of an impending strike from UOB workers in the Singaporean bank’s Indonesian arm UOB Buana have turned into a harsh reality. Not only has the strike affected the bank's operations nationwide, with at least 4,000 out of 5,800 staff taking part in the strike. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.

BNP Paribas Assurance has increased its equity interest in SHC&Life Insurance from 50 percent to 85 percent.

From the Middle East to London, to New York, and now to South Korea.