Regional/ International

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan defended the embattled bank to investors Wednesday, the same day its stock fell nearly 11%, claiming the bank is in the middle of a "multi-year transformation" that might be painful now, but will stabilize it in the long-term.

Radical overhauls by HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver have led to the bank selling its US credit card and retail business to Capital One for $32.7b as part of cost-savings measures expected to save the bank a total of $3.5b.

Middle East

Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services has formed a joint venture with Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait (BBK) and Kuwait-based JZ Associates. The new entity, BBK Geojit Securities KSC, will be headquartered in Kuwait City and will start operations initially with two offices.  

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank has received approval from the Qatar regulator to open an Islamic branch in the wealthy Gulf Arab state, six months after a central bank verdict asked conventional lenders to stop operating Islamic branches in the country.

Kuwait’s Gulf Investment Corporation has raised $253 million under its existing 20-year $1.18b Sukuk Wakalah bi Istithmar medium term notes programme. 

Bahraini retail and commercial banking institution BMI Bank has signed an agreement with Sinnad to manage the bank’s ATM network as well as issue its chip-enabled debit cards.

Indochina

The State Bank of Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City branch has asked lenders with strong dollar reserve to convert the greenback into Vietnam dong in order to provide low-cost loans for businesses, who are struggling with the fund shortage.

World Bank's country director Annette Dixon has stated in an email that the bank would not lend more money to Cambodia until the government strikes a deal to compensate around 1,000 families still living next to Boeung Kak lake in central Phnom Penh.

South Asia

A Reserve Bank of India committee formed last year to study customer service in banks and suggest ways to improve it has just submitted its report, detailing the issues faced by customers and the possible remedial measures for such grievances. 

The private equity arm of Standard Chartered Bank and Providence will together invest $250 million in Multi Screen Media to pick up an over 35% stake in the general entertainment broadcaster.

India’s anti-corruption bureau (ACB) has arrested the chairman and the directors of Bhandari Cooperative Bank along with a developer in a $7.75 million fraud case. The ACB had registered separate complaints of cheating, forgery, corruption and misappropriation of funds against the executives of the bank, the developers and a few agents.

The Asian Development Bank has approved a loan of $300 million for the development of India’s energy sector to help meet Bangladesh's urgent need for more energy-efficient generating plants and greater use of renewable power sources.

Australia/New Zealand

The leadership of the Reserve Bank of Australia has failed to alert police after the bank received evidence in 2007 that its subsidiary Note Printing Australia was implicated in the bribery of foreign officials. In mid-2007, the NPA board was given information detailing how the company's agents were bribing officials in Malaysia and Nepal.

Construction of a new Westpac bank mega site has begun at Rotorua Central Mall. The 750 square meter building will bring the Hinemoa branch - which has already closed - and the Haupapa branch under one roof, including Westpac's personal, business and agribusiness partners and offer state-of-the-art technology.

China

HSBC has launched a new structured investment product to provide retail investors with capital protected exposure to equities in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. 

China Investment Corporation, the country's sovereign wealth fund, has bought HSBC's 7% stake in Bank of Shanghai.

Citibank (China) has opened a new sub-branch in Shanghai. The sub-branch, located in Jing’an District, is Citibank’s 40th consumer outlet in China.

Hong Kong

Bank of America has held exploratory talks with the principal investment funds of Kuwait and Qatar about selling part of its stake in China Construction Bank (CCB). BofA owns about 10% of CCB's Hong Kong-listed shares and is scurrying to raise capital for its mortgage-scarred balance sheet.

Hong Kong's securities regulator has said that HSBC Holdings can only offer its dark pool services to professional investors, scuttling the bank's earlier plans to market the product to retail investors. Citi has appointed Bassam Salem as CEO of Citi Private Bank, Asia Pacific. Bassam will replace Aamir Rahim, who has been appointed Head of Citi's Public Sector Group for Asia Pacific.

Indonesia

Bank Mutiara , controlled by Indonesia's state deposit insurance agency, is considering issuing sub-debt worth $55.7 million to maintain its capital adequacy ratio at above 10% percent.

Indonesia’s finance ministry has chosen CIMB Securities, Citi, HSBC Securities and Standard Chartered Bank as underwriters for its global sukuk issue worth $1 billion scheduled in September.

Japan

Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities will seek to rebuild its management by working more closely with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and major U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley by refining its joint strategy. 

Global private equity firm Lone Star has put a Tokyo property on sale aiming to raise up to $1.3 billion before loans on the office and banquet hall complex mature early next year.

Japan Bank for International Cooperation and Sumitomo Mitsui  have signed a $95 million credit contract with Petrovietnam, the final funding package to help build a $1.6-billion coal-fired power plant in central Vietnam.

Korea, South

The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) has raised $62 million in dimsum bonds in a bid to diversify means of borrowing amid the U.S. dollar's weakness. Eximbank is the first South Korean lender to float dimsun bonds.

Shinhan Bank has reportedly signed a $100 million deal with UK-based Standard Chartered on top of its deals with the top two banks in Japan, Mizuho Bank and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, worth a combined $900 million, boosting its emergency funding to $1 billion.

Malaysia

Morgan Stanley has been chosen by Malaysian long-haul budget carrier AirAsia X as adviser for its proposed initial public offering for which listing plans, targeted for next year, are underway.

Hong Leong Bank has just completed the integration of its assets with EON bank, three months after its acquired the latter’s assets and liabilities. Now, all former EON Bank branches are re-designated as Hong Leong Bank branches with a total of 329 branches nationwide.

Bank of Baroda, Andhra Bank and Indian Overseas Bank have formed a joint venture to open a bank in Malaysia, with BoB being the main stakeholder, with 40%. The first branch of the bank will be set up in Kuala Lumpur before November.

The Philippines

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has declined to comment on whether regulators wrote to the Development Bank of the Philippines about the loan and sale transactions involving Deltaventures Resources because the law prohibits regulators from discussing any individual bank without a clearance from the Monetary Board.

Bank of the Philippines Islands has allayed fears that banks may be involved in speculative trading that is causing the appreciation of the peso, stating that "The banks, in general, will discourage anything that on the speculative side."

Singapore

An 88 year old Indonesian businessman has sued Citibank for at least $17 million after he suffered investment losses. Ie Seng Hoan, who is in the textile business, is suing through his investment vehicle, Zhen Yin Company, which he set up to invest with Citibank in 2003.

Standard Chartered bank has appointed Mark Dowie as the new group head of corporate finance, wholesale banking. Dowie will be based in Singapore and will join the wholesale banking management group, reporting to Mike Rees, CEO of wholesale banking at Standard Chartered.

Phil Joslin has joined Newedge Singapore as Senior Director for Clearing Sales India. In this role Phil will strengthen the Newedge belief in the importance and growth of the Indian market both for inbound and outbound business.

Taiwan

The Financial Supervisory Commission has passed approved Singapore-based DBS Group Holdings’ application to upgrade its Taiwan operation to an official subsidiary with 40 branch offices. 

Fubon Financial Holding, the nation’s largest financial service provider by assets, aims to increase its stake in overseas fixed-income investments, unfazed by their weakening credit profile, as they promise higher yields.

Thailand

Siam Commercial Bank has refuted speculation that its executive chairman Vichit Suraphongchai has resigned from his post to join the new government as a minister. 

Thai state-run Krung Thai Bank has provided a letter of guarantee to a German court for $54 million so a plane impounded in Germany and owned by the Thai crown prince can be released