Regional/ international

The United States’ Internal Revenue Service has proposed rules that would compel banks to reveal bank accounts owned by non-US residents. The proposal would allow the United States government to share banking information with other countries for tax collection purposes.

China Securities Regulatory Commission has approved both JPMorgan Chase’s joint venture with First Capital Securities and Morgan Stanley’s partnership with Huaxin Securities.

Canada’s Bank of Montreal (BMO) has named Tom Flynn as CFO. He replaces Russ Robertson who has been appointed vice chairman of US Harris Financial Corporation, BMO’s American subsidiary.

Middle East

Turkey’s Kuveyt Turk is planning to dispense gold coins in addition to cash at its network of ATMs. The gold coins can either be withdrawn from gold deposit accounts or bought with a credit card or cash.

UAE’s First Gulf Bank is planning to issue a new five-year Swiss franc bond worth $206 million, with Deutsche Bank arranging the transaction.

Indochina

The Laos government has sold a 20% stake in government-owned Banque pour le Commerce Exterieur Lao to private investors and bank employees for $19.2 million. The government also plans to sell a further 20% stake in the bank, but will continue to hold a controlling stake.

The State Bank of Vietnam, the country’s central bank, has agreed to extend the tenure of three foreign banks’ representative offices in Vietnam, namely Commonwealth Bank of Australia, JP Morgan Chase Bank and Industrial Bank of Korea, by five years.

Vietnam Prosperity Bank, which is 15% owned by OCBC Bank, has finished raising its registered capital to $205 million

South Asia

The Export-Import Bank of India is seeking to raise at lease $200 million in a syndicated loan in Taiwan due tothe low interest rates in the country. Mega Bank and Taiwan Cooperative Bank are expected to help procure the loan.

Bangladesh Bank, the country’s central bank, has pumped in at least $986 million into financial institutions in a bid to increase liquidity and tame inflation in the country’s financial system.

Pakistan’s Bank Alfalah has denied reports that it is for sale or may form a merger with another financial institution.

Australia/New Zealand

Australian banks have suspended repayments on home loans, other loans and credit cards for up to three months upon request, and waived any charges related to refinancingfor customers affected by the flooding in Queensland.

Westpac has denied a report that it is looking for a new CEO, stating that the bank has no plans to replace current CEO Gail Kelly.

SBS Bank and JPMorgan Chase have joined the New Zealand Bankers’ Association, increasing the total number of banks in the association to 12. Other members include ANZ National Bank, ASB Bank, Bank of New Zealand, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Citibank, HSBC, Kiwibank, Rabobank New Zealand, TSB Bank and Westpac New Zealand.

China

Jiangsu Jiangyin Rural Commercial Bank is planning to raise nearly $300 million via an initial public offering (IPO). The regional bank will be selling a 20% stake in the IPO.

The People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, has approved the mainland unit of Bank of East Asia’s plan to sell about $300.3 million worth of yuan-denominated bonds on China’sinterbank market.

Qilu Bank, which is 20% owned by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, is currently under investigations for its role in a commercial paper fraud estimated at about $292 million.

Hong Kong

Standard Chartered has named Katherine Tsang as chairwoman of its Hong Kong subsidiary. She replaces Chow Chung-kong who has retired.

Ten banks, including Standard Chartered, Bank of East Asia and Bank of China Hong Kong have signed agreements with Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation to join a financing guarantee programme for local small and medium-sized businesses.

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

Private equity firm TPG and financial company J Trust have submitted bids to invest in bankrupt consumer bank Takefuji Corporation.

Korea, South

The Financial Supervisory Services (FSS), the country’s financial regulator, is reviewing guidelines concerning financial derivatives trade and may require financial institutions with less than $444.2 million in total assets or investment managers with funds amounting to less than about $898 billion to present margin deposits. The FSS may also establish regulations that restrict daily trade volume, asking investors to restrict derivatives trades to less than 10 times the worth of their deposits.

Korea Exchange Bank’s labour union has filed an injunction in a bid to prevent Hana Financial Group for purchasing a majority stake in the company.

Shinhan Bank has named Suh Jin-won as president and CEO, following previous CEO’s Lee Baek-soon’s resignation after he was indicted for fraud.

Malaysia

Bank Negara Malaysia, the country central bank, has directed all registered Islamic financial institutions to comply with prerequisites of the new Shariah governance framework which came into effect on January 1st 2011. Each financial institution will also be required to verify the status of their compliance by the end of June 2011.

Government-owned Bank Kerjasama Rakyat is planning to open another eight branches this year, bringing its total number of branches to 127.

Philippines 

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the country’s financial regulator, will no longer permit new issuances of capital instruments as upper tier 2 capital. This is in line with improving the quality of local banks’ capital to comply with Basel 3 prerequisites.

The Bankers Association of the Philippines-Credit Bureau Incorporated has begun offering credit bureau services to rural banks in a bid to prevent incidents of bad loans and fraud, as the national credit information system has yet to be established.

Singapore

DBS Bank is planning to unveil yuan-denominated deposits and other yuan products in Singapore, as there is increased interest among consumers to maintain a part of their savings in the Chinese currency.

RBS has named Madan Menon as country executive for Singapore. Menon will be responsible to help grow the bank’s wholesale and investment banking portfolio across India and Southeast Asia.

Taiwan

Mega Financial Holding has signed a memorandum of understanding with Bank of China to form a business partnership.

Five Taiwanese banks have opened their first branches in China, namely Taiwan Cooperative Bank, Chang Hwa Bank, the banking subsidiaries of Cathay Financial Holdings and First Financial Holdings as well as government-owned Land Bank of Taiwan.

Fubon Financial Holdings has offered about $188 million to privatize its Hong Kong subsidiary. The privatization is part of an effort by the company to cut costs related to public trading.

Thailand 

Kasikornbank will be launching four campaigns directed at the small and medium-sized (SME) enterprise market. The bank aims at increasing its SME loans by 10% this year.