Regional/ International

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has dismissed Michael Cho, co-head of the bank’s Asian mergers and acquisitions division. The bank will also reportedly cut about 20% of its Asia-Pacific managing directors by the end of the first quarter of 2012.

HSBC has allegedly cancelled its plans to buy DenizBank, the Turkish retail unit of Belgian-French Dexia Bank. This leaves Qatar National Bank as the likely acquirer of the unit.

RBS CEO Stephen Huster has confirmed that the bank will be cutting 3,500 jobs at its investment banking offices in London, Hong Kong and the US as part of the bank’s strategy to return to its core business activities.

Middle East

Bahrain's Arab Banking Corporation has appointed William Playle as CEO of its London unit, ABC International Bank. Playle, who was formerly deputy CEO, replaces Nofal Barbar.

BankMuscat, Oman's largest bank by assets, will set up a sharia-compliant banking arm called Meethaq. The bank will function independently from the conventional arm and has appointed a three-member sharia board.

Qatar’s Barwa Bank has completed a $466.8 million rights issue aimed at funding the bank’s expansion.

Indochina

Government-owned BIDV has secured permission from the State Bank of Vietnam, the country’s central bank, to raise its ownership in Lao Viet Joint Venture Bank to 65 percent from 50 percent, equivalent to an increase of $16.88 million.

Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam has raised $75 million in an initial public offering.

Partly private Vietnam Prosperity Bank said it has raised its registered capital by 14 percent to $240 million.

Privately-owned Maritime Bank has raised its registered capital to $380 million.

South Asia

Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank, has directed all banks to have independent banking ombudsman at all zonal offices and at the central office. This is to prevent recovery agents from harassing customers and reduce customer complaints.

Sri Lanka’s government-owned Bank of Ceylon is planning a $500 million bond issue with a possible tenure of 10 years.

Bangladesh Bank, the country’s central bank, has instructed banks to submit their reports on corporate social responsibility and gender equality related performance markets every six months.

Australia/New Zealand

Commonwealth Bank of Australia has become the first Australian bank to launch a euro-denominated covered bond issue.

National Australia Bank has injected about $600 million into its subsidiary Clydesdale Bank, a move that will increase the bank’s Tier 1 capital ratio by 1.4%.

China

China Securities Regulatory Commission, the country’s securities regulator, has approved a brokerage joint venture between Citigroup and Orient Securities.

The National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s economic planner, has given the approval for 10 domestic banks to issue bonds in Hong Kong worth a combined $3.96 billion.

China Banking Regulatory Commission has barred the sale of commercial paper-backed investment products by trust companies in a bid to reduce dependence on shadow banking.

Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the country’s financial regulator, has instructed banks to explain the risks of buying complex products such as subordinated bonds. Credit information should also be clear and not misleading.

Bank of East Asia has been given the go-ahead by the National Development and Reform Commission of China to sell yuan bonds in Hong Kong.

Indonesia

Bank Indonesia, the country’s central bank, will be issuing a regulation that will limit the pawning of gold at Islamic banks in the country, as most customers tend to use the service for speculation in hopes of making a profit.

Bank Rakyat Indonesia has allocated about $33 million to fund the acquisition of a brokerage and will seek approval from shareholders soon.

Bank Bukopin is in discussions with several potential local and foreign investors to sell a majority or significant minority stake in the bank. The bank already has interest from a Qatari investor and local bank that is seeking to acquire a 20% stake.

Japan

Jesse Bhattal, the Deputy President and Chief of wholesale banking for Nomura has stepped down from his position, together with another head of Nomura’s global markets unit Tarun Jotwani.

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and other financial institutions are in talks to decide conditions to lend Japan's biggest utility, also known as Tepco, an additional 1 trillion yen ($13 billion), at the government's request.

Citigroup has appointed David Ratliff, the current head of investor sales for the Asia Pacific region, as the acting head of Japan global markets, replacing Brain Mccappin, whom resigned after the FSA sanctioned Citigroup for failing to explain investment risks to its clients.

Korea, South

Hana Financial Group president Kim Jong-yeol, who played a key role in the firm’s bid to take over the Korea Exchange Bank, recently resigned without prior. The 59-year-old lifelong banker said he had been considering stepping down since the beginning of the year on concerns his hard-line image could dent the consolidation of the two financial companies.

SC First Bank, the Korea unit of Standard Chartered has renamed itself Standard Chartered Bank Korea in a bid to strengthen the link between the local unit and its parent group. The previous name, SC First Bank, has been in use since the British banking group acquired the First Bank of Korea in 2005.

Woori Finance Holdings is mulling acquiring three overseas financial firms, with two merger and acquisition talks going on in Southeast Asia, with one proceeding smoothly. Woori is also eyeing a deal to secure a financial firm located "between Asia and Europe”.

Malaysia

CIMB Group Holdings, Malaysia’s second-biggest bank, wants to buy a 60% stake in Bank of Commerce, with the price is being negotiated with the Philippines’ Bank of Commerce controlling shareholder San Miguel and other stakeholders in a deal that may be completed next month.

RHB Capital and OSK Holdings have submitted their applications to Bank Negara for relevant approvals in relation to a proposed merger.The proposed merger deal is likely to be done via a combination of share swap and cash, although the ratio of this is not immediately known.

Singapore’s OCBC Bank plans to open seven new branches, including five Islamic branches, nationwide in Malaysia by the end of 2012. The bank currently operates 31 conventional branches in the country, and five OCBC Al-Amin Islamic banking branches.

The Philippines

The Philippine central bank’s monetary board has approved a plan to allow the country to invest some reserves in China’s currency as part of diversification. Any investments in the renminbi will be part of the central bank’s non-reserve assets until the currency is fully convertible.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will implement higher capital adequacy standards for universal and commercial banks beginning 2014, with the new schedule aimed to put the country ahead of the reforms’ 2019 international implementation deadline.

Foreign nationals may now purchase, acquire and own up to 40% of the authorized capital stock of rural banks in the Philippines under a bill approved by the House of Representatives, in a bid to make the country’s rural banking system more “competitive and robust”.

Singapore

DBS Group CEO Piyush Gupta has apologised to the hundreds of customers who were directly affected by the recent fraudulent ATM withdrawals - as well as for the anxiety caused to thousands more. He also pledged to enhance the bank's security measures.

Morgan Stanley has cut 10 fixed-income jobs, mainly in sales and trading, in Singapore and Hong Kong including the co-head of fixed-income sales for Southeast Asia. The cuts came after the bank said in December it will cut 1,600 employees in the first quarter as it trims costs.

Geneva-based Bordier Private Bank aims to increase client assets at its Singapore office to 1 billion francs ($1 million). The bank increased assets under management by 5% to 9.8 billion Swiss francs ($10.3 billion) last year.

Taiwan

Hua Nan Commercial Bank, a banking arm of Hua Nan Financial Holdings has signed a memorandum of understanding with Guangzhou-based China Guangfa Bank for cooperation in the areas of corporate banking, trade financing, working-capital financing, and the establishment of retail outlets.

First Commercial Bank, a government-linked bank in Taiwan, plans to establish twin headquarters in China, with one in Shanghai and another in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. The proposed Shanghai headquarters will handle financial markets along China’s eastern coast and the Chengdu headquarters markets in central and western inland.

Thailand

Bank of Ayudhya, Thailand's fifth-largest lender, part-owned by General Electric , will sign an agreement to buy HSBC's Thai credit card and retail business, which has a loan portfolio of about 30-40 billion baht ($942 million to $1.26 billion) and about 500,000 credit card customers

The Thai cabinet has decided to transfer responsibility for 1.14 trillion baht ($35.9 billion) in outstanding debt from the 1997 economic crisis to the central bank, paving the way for the government to take out hundreds of billions of baht in new loans to fund new investment programmes.