Regional/ International

A proposed EU law may require European Union countries to bail out one another’s struggling banks, giving local regulators power to take control of stricken banks break them up and impose losses on their bondholders.

National Australia Bank will be restructuring its British subsidiary after it posted a loss of about $290 million for the first half of the year. Malcolm Williamson, NAB’s European chairman, has announced his plans to resign.

Scotiabank has appointed Nestor Blanco as its new head of international private banking. He replaces Alison Hierons and will report to Cathy Welling, the bank’s private client unit head.

Middle East

Yasser El Mallawany and Hassan Heikal, co-chief executive officers of Egypt’s EFG Hermes, face trial on insider trading charges. They are among nine people who are alleged to have made an illegal profit of some $331 million through corrupt stock exchange transactions.

Kuwait’s Global Investment House (GIH) has won a $250 millon lawsuit over an aborted buy of a stake in UAE’s National Bank of Umm Al Qaiwain (NBQ). The Kuwaiti bank had initially placed the sum to purchase a 20% stake in NBQ, but had cancelled the purchase after facing financial difficulties. The courts have ordered NBQ to return the deposit plus interest to GIH.

Bahrain's Gulf International Bank has set up a $1.11 billion programme for the potential to tap into the ringgit market in an effort to diversify funding avenues and currencies for the bank.

Indochina

Malaysia’s Maybank has applied to open a branch in Laos, and is still waiting for approval from the relevant authorities.

Hanoi Stock Exchange will sell $144 million worth of government-guaranteed bonds for Vietnam Bank for Social Policies.

Central Bank of Myanmar is preparing to launch a new nationwide ATM network within two months. This comes as private banks in the country have begun to unveil ATMs in recent weeks.

Central Bank of Myanmar, Daiwa Institute of Research and Tokyo Stock Exchange Group have signed a MoU to establish a securities exchange and support the creation of a capital market in Myanmar.

South Asia

Bangladesh Bank, the country’s central bank, has declined to extend the deadline for IIDFC, Fareast Finance, Hajj Finance, Reliance Finance and National Finance, which are non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs), to raise their capital base to a minimum of about $12 million. The NBFIs were given a year to increase their paid-up capital to minimize risks.

Sri Lanka's Postmaster General Rohana Abeyratna has been appointed as acting chairman of government-owned National Savings Bank. The former chairman and board of directors of the bank resigned following the bank's controversial purchase of a stake in a company at an inflated rate per stock.

Government-owned Bank of India has re-entered the mutual fund business by forging a joint venture with AXA Investment Managers. Bank of India will have a 51% stake in BoI-AXA Investment Managers, its new joint venture.

State Bank of Pakistan, the country’s central bank, has granted due diligence permission to Habib Bank and Bank Alflaha Limited for the acquisition of Citi Bank consumers’ portfolio comprising credit card business, auto financing and personal loans.

Australia/New Zealand

A landmark study by the University of New South Wales-backed Centre for Social Impact has found that more than 2.9 million adults lacking a combination of either a basic bank account, car insurance or even a credit card.

ANZ has named Vishnu Mohan as chief executive officer of Fiji and the Pacific Central region. Mohan, who will assume the role in August, will report to Michael Rowland, chief executive officer of the Pacific.

China

UBS has been given regulatory approval to convert its Beijing branch into a locally incorporated wholly foreign-owned bank. The new entity will be called UBS (China), and will start operating by the third quarter of the year.

Yang Kun, vice president of Agricultural Bank of China, has been detained in connection with a corruption investigation that is reportedly related to a loan given to a property developer in 2004. He is now being questioned by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the ruling party’s disciplinary authority.

China Banking Regulatory Commission is allowing non-government-owned companies to buy stakes worth more than 20% in regional banks and rural lenders. These companies are allowed to do so provided they help in the restructuring of city commercial banks, rural credit cooperatives and rural commercial banks.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the country’s financial regulator, has allowed authorised financial institutions to determine their own renminbi net-open-position limits on a case-by-case basis. There was an existing 20% restriction previously.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) received approval from the country’s Securities and Futures Commission to offer renminbi (Rmb) currency futures. HKEx's Rmb currency futures will be the first exchange-traded currency futures settled in Rmb.

Bank of China (Hong Kong) has launched a privileged guarantee fee subsidy to support SME customers, whereby commercial customers under the bank’s SME Financing Guarantee Scheme are entitled to a guarantee fee subsidy of up to three months subject to a maximum of about $2,500.

Indonesia

Indonesia’s Bank Muamalat will inject a total of $7.5 million capital into Al Ijarah Indonesia Finance after completing the acquisition of the multi-finance firm, with the takeover pending approval from shareholders.

Bank Indonesia will implement a multi-license system for banks to improve the country’s banking industry. The new system involves bank capital regulation, governance by limited holdings, licensing of bank activities and products and licensing requirements for branch openings.

OCBC NISP, a domestic bank controlled by OCBC Singapore, is seeking to acquire a financing firm to further expand its lending portfolio and facilitate growth amid increased demand for credit.

Japan

Japanese trading firm Marubeni is nearing a deal to acquire US grains merchant Gavilon for more than $5 billion. Although the deal is pending final approval, Marubeni has lined up financing for the acquisition, which will include assuming the $1.7 billion debt posted by Gavilon at the end of 2011.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank has agreed to form a capital and business partnership with London-based hedge fund Man Group. The tie-up came as Man Group acquired another British hedge fund, FRM Holdings, which had been in partnership with a former subsidiary unit, Sumitomo Trust and Banking.

Nomura Holdings is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission after it was linked to yet another insider trading case, the second in two months, and may face sanctions as part of an industry-wide probe into suspicious trading around a series of share offerings in 2009 and 2010.

Korea, South

Investigators raided Hana Capital headquarters after Mirae Savings Bank chairman Kim Chan-kyung testified that former Hana group chairman Kim Seung-yu was involved in a paid-in capital increase of the savings bank.

Woori Bank is taking legal action against BofA’s Merril Lynch unit and Citigroup over losses of $143 million and $95 million respectively, in collateralised debt obligations.

The Export-Import Bank of Korea plans to have a bill submitted to the 19th National Assembly, to have its name changed to the Korea Bank for International Cooperation. The name change is expected to be followed by a reorganisation of the bank’s structure, with focus on managing the Economic Development Cooperation Fund and project financing.

Malaysia

PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli has accused Bank Negara Malaysia of clamping down on whistleblowers while failing to probe National Feedlot Corporation’s money laundering scandal – involving an $80 million government loan – after being summoned by the central bank for investigations recently.

Maybank and CIMB Bank will team up to more effectively fight online banking fraud, with the initiative a prelude to an upcoming industry campaign on internet banking by the Association of Banks Malaysia in cooperation with CyberSecurity Malaysia.

Hong Leong Bank is setting its sights on the country’s small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector, aiming to transform up to 51 domestic branches into SME branches by September, and a total of 145 branches eventually being set up to cater to SMEs’ needs.

The Philippines

BDO Unibank has acquired the Rural Bank of San Juan (RBSJ), subject to certain conditions, after obtaining approval from Philippine monetary officials. The transaction is expected to be completed by July, with BDO Unibank to assume its liabilities and recorded assets.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is studying provisions of its cross-selling policy with the intent of expanding the list of cross-sold products banks can market and promote, in a bid to improve how bank products are being marketed across banking networks.

Philtrust Bank has opened a new domestic branch in Malabon City. The bank is looking to further purchase, or lease, buildings in other locations to expand its presence and service availability in the Philippines.

Singapore

The Monetary Authority of Singapore is proposing stricter rules for several retail investment products offered by firms, including contracts for differences and leveraged foreign exchange products, to help safeguard investors if a broker gets into difficulties.

UOB is among shortlisted parties to have advanced to the next round of bidding for ING’s Asia asset management business, with the Dutch bancassurer planning to sell its asset management and insurance businesses in two separate auctions expected to fetch $7 billion in total.

UOB Bullion and Futures and the Singapore Exchange will set up the Professional Traders Development Centre to train professional futures traders. Operations will commence in June, with participants to test and refine trading strategies based on real-time market data.

JPMorgan Asset Management has cut its investments in commodity companies as it turns more risk averse due to slowing economic growth in China and India, and the debt crisis in Europe.

Taiwan

Taiwan Cooperative Bank has been in talks to sell a stake to BNP Paribas, as part of the government-owned bank’s plan to raise $610 million through a private share placement to replenish its capital.

Although Taiwan is not a member of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, Jih-Chu Lee, vice chairperson of the Financial Supervisory Commission, Taiwan, has said that domestic banks will be adopting the Basel III framework in line with international norms, with implementation starting in 2013.

Taiwanese lawmakers have proposed an amendment to the Banking Act to demand financial independence for Taiwanese banks’ overseas branches, in particular those in China, to ensure the island is shielded in the event of a financial crisis or political incident.

Thailand

Kasikornbank is focusing its efforts in the small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) market by entering into cooperation with the Thai-Chinese Rayong Industrial Zone, aiming to provide funding as well as business information to Chinese SMEs.

Krung Thai Bank (KTB) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Chinese technology company Tsinghua Tongfang, with the bank to provide loans under the KTB Green Loan scheme to customers of the technology company.

TMB Bank, in cooperation with the International Finance Corporation, will provide $100 million worth of long-term lending to small and medium scale exporters hit by last year’s floods, with the funding to help exporters reduce risk from currency volatility and persuade enterprises to access dollar-denominated loans.