Regional/ international

Bank of America (BofA), which was ordered to pay Lehman Brothers $590 million, has appealed the ruling. The US Bankruptcy Court had ruled that BOfA’s seize of $500 million worth of deposits from Lehman Brothers during the financial crisis violated bankruptcy laws.

The Bank of England, the country’s central bank, has warned banks to use their profits to increase their capital and share dividends instead of spending it on bonuses.

The International Islamic Financial Market will launch a hedging facility for the Islamic banking industry, enabling member countries to use the facility to reduce risks and costs associated with financial transactions.

Middle East

The Central Bank of Kuwait has given permission to UAE-based Union National Bank to commence operations in Kuwait and open a new branch in the country. The new branch is in line with the bank’s plans to expand in the Middle East.

The Central Bank of Bahrain is reviewing its existing regulations with a view of incorporating remuneration suggestions by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. The review will affect all licensed banks in Bahrain.

Fiba Holding, which owns Credit Europe Bank, has received regulatory approval to purchase Millenium Bank, Banco Comercial Portugues’s Turkish operations, for $82 million. Millenium Bank is expected to be renamed as Credit Europe Bank.

Indochina

The State Bank of Vietnam, the country’s central bank, has agreed to extend the deadline for banks to raise their chartered capital to $141.7 million by a year.

A State Bank of Vietnam official has asked for the resignation of a Techcombank branch director who is alleged to have offered illegal interest rates. 

Myanmar’s First Private Bank will be increasing its paid-up capital to about $3.4 million to compete more effectively with other private banks in the country.

South Asia

Commercial banks in India are now signing agreements with microfinance institutions before lending to them. The agreements, which stipulate the interest rates that are chargeable, were decided upon after microfinance institutions were alleged to have charged their clients, mainly farmers and poor rural women, high interest rates.

Norway’s foreign ministry has cleared Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank of any wrongdoing after investigating claims that the bank’s founder, Muhammad Yunus, had diverted $100 million in microfinance grants to an insurer.

The State Bank of Pakistan, the country’s central bank, has formed the Agricultural Credit Advisory Committee to spur the growth of agriculture credit. The committee includes delegates from the central bank, commercial banks, agriculture chambers and associations. 

Australia/New Zealand

Commonwealth Bank of Australia recently suffered a brief IT outage, causing disruptions to its ATMs and online banking channels. The outage reportedly affected 5% of the bank’s customer accounts.

CBS Canterbury shareholders have agreed to a $2.2 billion merger with Pyne Gould Corporation’s Marac finance unit and South Cross Building Society to create Building Society Holdings, a bank that will primarily serve SMEs and rural businesses in New Zealand.

New Zealand’s main banks have formed Payment NZ, a new entity that will be in charge of the country’s interbank payment clearing and settlement system. Payment NZ will take over responsibility for the system from the New Zealand Bankers Association. 

China

China Banking Regulatory Commission, the country’s financial regulator, has approved Huaxia Bank’s private share placement to raise about $3.1 billion. However, the placement is still pending approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

China Development Bank is planning to offer yuan-dominated bonds in Taiwan. The bank may also set up a representative office in Taiwan and may cooperate with Taiwanese banks on yuan clearing and currency exchange. 

 The People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, and China Banking Regulatory Commission has approved Bank of Beijing’s planned issue of subordinated bonds worth $1.5 million.

Hong Kong

Hang Seng Bank is looking for a partner to offer wealth management services in China. The bank is also seeking to enter strategic partnerships with insurance, asset management and securities companies in China.

Indonesia

The Indonesian parliament may delay the creation of a new financial regulator over a dispute regarding the selection process of regulator’s board of commissioners, with the parliament insisting on having a say in the selection process. The regulator will take over the supervisory capabilities of the country’s central bank and capital market regulator Bapepam.

Bank Permata has completed its purchase of GE Finance Indonesia, the country sole non-bank credit card issuer. The acquisition increase Bank Permata’s share of the Indonesian credit card market to 8% from about 2%.

Japan

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation has signed a MOU with RHB Bank to enhance the Malaysian bank’s presence in the Japanese banking industry. The MOU will also support RHB Bank’s cash management, trade finance and corporate banking activities, as well help expand cross-border transactions in the structured finance, debt capital markets, securities and investment banking sectors.

Korea, South

Two separate Woori-linked groups have cancelled their respective bids to purchase the Korean government’s 57% stake in Woori Financial Group. The groups were unable to fulfill tough bidding requirements set by the government and found the estimated $17.4 billion cost of mounting the bid to be prohibitive.

Hana Financial Group is planning to sell new shares worth $1 billion to finance its acquisition of Korea Exchange Bank, in addition to using its internal reserves and selling bonds. The share sale plan is pending approval from the bank’s board.

Malaysia

Bank Negara Malaysia, the country’s central bank, has requested financial institutions to reserve increased capital to contain risks from trading activities, securitization and counterparty credit exposures.

HSBC Amanah, HSBC’s Islamic banking subsidiary, is planning to set up a branch in East Malaysia, bringing its total number of branches in Malaysia to nine.

Philippines

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the country’s financial regulator, is planning new regulations concerning the separation of trust corporations from existing financial institutions. The regulations also require a minimum capital requirement of about $7 million for trust corporations with assets under management amounting to about $453 million.

The Philippine subsidiary of ING Group is selling its insurance-investment management business to Bank of the Philippines Islands. This is in line with ING’s agreement with the European Commission to sell its insurance or investment management business by 2013.

Singapore

The Monetary Authority of Singapore, the country’s financial regulator, has sent a circular to banks discouraging the use of hold mail unless absolutely necessary or if requested by customers, as the regulator is concerned that the service can lead to tax evasion or concealment. Hold mail services are generally offered by private banks, which help store clients’ banking correspondence at the bank.

Mandiri Investasi, the asset management division of Bank Mandiri, has received a license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore that enables it to sell investment products in Singapore.

Singapore’s Court of Appeal has awarded Rabobank International $4 million in a lawsuit against Motorola’s Singapore business. Rabobank had sued Motorola, asserting that it had a right to cash that Jurong Technologies Industrial Corporation, a bankrupt company, owed Motorola.

DBS Bank has unveiled a $23 million regional branding campaign to enhance its presence in six crucial markets, namely China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India and Indonesia. The campaign is meant to support the bank’s expansion plans in Asia.

Taiwan

The Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) has requested custodian banks for foreign banks to report fund movements regularly to help prevent speculation on the country’s currency.

 Taiwan Cooperative Bank has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Bank of China regarding their collaboration on business matters and information exchange. 

Taishin International Bank is planning to sign a MOU with China’s East West Bank China to help grow its business in the Chinese market. The MOU is currently pending regulatory approval.  

Thailand 

HSBC is planning to open a new HSBC Premier branch in Bangkok next year which will primarily offer wealth management services to high net worth customers. This comes as the Thai government recently unveiled a new finance blueprint that enables foreign banks to open extra branches.

Bangkok Bank is planning to use China as its base for expanding overseas.

Kasikornbank will increase mortgages by about $665 million in 2011 owing to the demand for housing.

The Export-Import Bank of Thailand has teamed up with three other lenders to offer syndicated loans worth about $1.7 billion for investment projects overseas.