Regional/ International

The U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and the central banks of Canada, England, Japan and Switzerland have announced a joint plan to ensure that the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis does not lead to a collapse of Eurozone banks or force Italy’s economy to default.

HSBC has proposed an amended settlement worth $62.5 million with investors in an Irish fund that were involved in Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, after an earlier settlement was rejected by a U.S. judge.

BNY Mellon is acquiring Penson Worldwide’s Australian unit for $33 million. The unit provides clearing services for trades and processes exchange-traded equities and options, and will be part of Bank of New York Mellon's Pershing division.

Middle East

Qatar Financial Centre has given State Bank of India approval to establish a branch at the financial centre to provide banking services which include accepting deposits, providing credit and arranging syndication of loans.

Saudi Arabia’s Banque Saudi Fransi will be selling its 27% stake in Bemo Saudi Fransi Syria and its 10% stake in Bemo Lebanon due to the political unrest in both countries.

International Bank of Qatar and National Bank of Kuwait have partnered together to provide a service that enables customers to own properties outside Qatar, namely in the UK, the US, France, Lebanon, Egypt, the UAE and Jordan.

Indochina

Vietnam’s Maritime Bank plans to issue 100 million bonus shares to raise its registered capital to $380.95 million.

Vietnam’s BIDV will be selling 3% of its registered capital in an IPO at the Hanoi Stock Exchange.

China’s ICBC has officially opened its branch in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  The branch will offer banking services to Chinese companies in Cambodia and support local industries. 

South Asia

State Bank of India will collaborate with other government-run banks to install 40,000 white-label ATMs across the country. The ATMs will be owned by private ATM providers and customers from any bank can conduct transactions for a fee.

The Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank, has cancelled the license of Maharashtra-based Bharat Urban Cooperative Bank due to the bank’s bankruptcy and failure to meet capital requirements.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has upheld the 2004 privatization of Habib Bank as lawful, stating that the sale of a majority stake in the bank to the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development was according to international best practices.

Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank of Ceylon is now offering renminbi account services following the inclusion of the renminbi as a designated currency by the country’s central bank.

Australia/New Zealand

Standard and Poor’s has revised its ratings for Australia’s big four and its New Zealand subsidiaries, with ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Bank of Australia and Westpac being downgraded to AA-minus from AA.

Westpac will likely reduce its number of branches, as the bank has an inflated number of branches due to its acquisition of St George Bank in 2008. This comes as the bank’s agreement with the government not to close any branches expired on December 1^st 2011.  

China

Bank of China has opened its sixth branch in Japan, in the city of Kobe.

The People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, has relaxed lending regulations on more than 20 small banks across the country, in a bid to channel more funds to cash-starved private companies and the farming sector.

ICBC has opened a representative office in Cape Town, South Africa. The office will focus on strengthening ICBC's ties with its subsidiary Standard Bank and carrying out market research.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the People’s Bank of China have renewed a Rmb/HK dollar currency swap agreement. The new agreement, which has expanded to 400 billion renminbi/HK$490 billion, will run for three years and will help maintain the stability of the offshore renminbi market in Hong Kong.

Indonesia

Bank Indonesia, the country’s central bank, has conducted stress tests on its domestic banks against possible Eurozone downgrades and has found the banks’ exposure to such situations to be minimal.

International Finance Corporation, The a subsidiary of the World Bank, and Bank Sinar Harapan Bali, a subsidiary of Bank Mandiri, have asked the country’s central bank to approve a branchless banking pilot project that will conducted by both institutions.

Japan

Nomura Holdings will inform the remainder of employees facing job cuts at its wholesale unit by December 31st as the firm implements a $1.2 billion cost-reduction program. The bank, which started trimming payrolls this month, will finish most of the cuts by March 31^st.

Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) and The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ have signed an agreement for provision of a $50 million loan to EDB. The funding will be allocated to EDB projects on development of finance instruments, micro financing and SMEs.

Korea, South

Hana Financial Group and Lone Star are likely to agree to cut the price for Hana's 4.4 trillion won ($3.8 billion) buy of the fund's stake in Korea Exchange Bank by at least 7%. The two sides are looking to agree on a price cut of around 1,000-1,500 won per share and are narrowing their differences.

The Seoul High Court has ruled in favour of Woori Bank fund holders, ordering Woori to pay them 70% of their investment losses from the Woori Power Income Fund. Eighty-seven investors of the fund initially sued for 2.9 billion won ($2.5 million) in damages but the court set the settlement at 2.03 billion won ($1.7 million).

KDB Financial Group, a holding company of state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) is in talks to buy HSBC's retail banking operations in the country. HSBC plans to sell 11 retail branches across South Korea as it moves to focus on corporate and investment banking.

Malaysia

Maybank has looked at the books of MF Global Asia but has decided not to buy the Asian unit of the U.S. brokerage firm that collapsed last month, citing the price as being too steep.

CIMB, the first international investment bank to open a local office in Sri Lanka, is considering expanding in to stock brokerage and banking there. The group is currently providing investment banking and corporate advisory services.

Bank Negara Malaysia and the Monetary Authority of Singapore have signed an agreement to establish cross-border collateral arrangement with one of the aims being to boost the confidence of financial institutions.

HSBC has named Malaysia as one of its seven priority markets in the Asia Pacific region. The country now stands alongside Hong Kong, China, India, Singapore, Indonesia and Australia, as areas in which HSBC will continue to invest aggressively.

The Philippines

The World Bank has approved a $50 million loan to state-run Development Bank of the Philippines for a project aimed at supporting investments in public infrastructure and services.

Lucio Tan-controlled banks Allied Banking Corporation and Philippine National Bank expect to complete their long-awaited merger next year as they now only focus on obtaining the nod of local regulators.

Singapore

Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), has said that despite initial concerns over the operational autonomy of the MAS, the central bank had demonstrated its commitment to price stability over the past four decades.

 Swiss private bank Pictet & Cie announced last night that it had hired North Asia wealth management veteran Anuj Khanna as head of wealth management for South Asia. He will be based in Singapore and starts January 9.

Taiwan

Taiwan Cooperative Financial Holding, which began its first day of trading on the Taiwan Stock Exchange Thursday, will seek overseas expansion to countries such as Vietnam and Cambodia, and open branches in more cities in China, in an effort to boost competitiveness.

Six Taiwanese banks with branches in China which will have been in business for a year by the year end will apply to the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) to handle renminbi based transactions.

Thailand

Krung Thai Bank, Government Savings Bank and Islamic Bank of Thailand will be approving special loans to businesses due to severe flooding. Those with up to 50 employees can borrow up to $32,378 each. Those with 51-200 workers may borrow up to $64,756 and those with 201 employees or more can borrow up to $129,512.