Regional/ international

Morgan Stanley is facing a potential lawsuit from Taiwan’s China Development Industrial Bank which wants to recover losses worth a reported $228 million after investing in a collateralized debt obligation linked to subprime mortgage bonds.

Norway’s Financial Supervisory Authority, the country’s financial regulator, is planning to follow Swedish government’s lead in imposing strict capital requirements on banks in an effort to reduce the risk of a housing bubble in the country. Sweden’s regulator has set the capital ratios for banks at 12% and may require important banks to target for 15% by 2013.

Spain’s Supreme Court has issued Banco Santander’s chief executive Alfredo Saenz with a three-month suspended jail sentence that also disallows him from managing a bank during this period. Saenz was found guilty of making a false accusation in a court case dating back to 1994.

Middle East

HSBC has named Abdul Hakeem Mostafawi and Abdulfattah Sharaf as board directors of HSBC Bank Middle East. Mostafawi and Sharaf are currently CEOs of HSBC Qatar and the UAE respectively and their roles would remain unchanged. Their new responsibilities are effective from March 3^rd 2011.

A group of Saudi investors are planning to establish a $16.9 billion investment development bank in Egypt. The bank, which will be based in Cairo, will focus on investing directly in Egypt.

Kuwait Finance House’s Turkish unit will launch a $500 million Islamic bond by the end of the year.  

Indochina

Cambodia Development Specialized Bank, a joint-venture between Cambodian and South Korean investors, has shut down after being unable to adhere to new minimum capital requirements.

Government-owned Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam is planning to privatize this year and may sell overseas bonds to raise $500 million.

The State Bank of Vietnam, the country’s central bank, has requested banks to ensure that their credit growth rate is below 20% in 2011 in a bid to curb inflation.

South Asia

Bangladesh’s National Bank has signed an agreement with Qatar’s Doha Bank for the remittance of funds from Qatar to Bangladesh. The agreement will facilitate the online transfer of funds between customers’ Doha Bank and National Bank accounts.

Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank, which is currently facing restructuring under regulatory monitoring, has disclosed to its shareholders that it has reduced the percentage of bad loans, established a new credit risk unit, centralized operations and redeployed staff in an effort to change processes and review credit policies.  

Government-owned banks Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India will be receiving a cash injection worth $970 million in the form of equity capital.

Australia/New Zealand

National Australia Bank has signed a memorandum of understanding with China Huarong Asset Management that will allow cooperation between both parties in wealth management, insurance, agrifinance and resources.

Australia’s Westpac Bank is reviving the Bank of Melbourne brand in the state of Victoria in an effort to expand its presence in the state’s mortgage sector. The brand was consolidated under the Westpac brand in 2004.

Asutralia’s Macquarie Group has named David Fass as chief executive of its operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Fass previously served with Deutsche Bank in London as the European head of the bank’s Global Banking division.

China

China Banking Regulatory Commission has requested the country’s banks to stop giving loans to local government financing entities unless they were to be used for affordable housing projects, as the financial regulator fears that the previously-issues loans may become bad loans, increasing the risk for the country’s financial institutions.

China Development Bank will allocate about $15.2 billion worth of loans for public housing projects in 2011, in an effort to stabilize the country’s property market and increase the supply of affordable homes.

Agricultural Development Bank of China is planning to sell about $60.9 billion worth of bonds on the interbank market in 2011.

Hong Kong

Denmark-based Saxo Bank Group’s Asia Pacific unit, Saxo Capital Markets, will be opening an office in Hong Kong, its fourth in the region. The office is aimed at institutional and retail customers that are seeking to trade foreign exchange and equities.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the country’s financial regulator, will begin implementing Basel III regulations on January 1^st 2013 and expects to complete the implementation by 1^st January 2019. The regulations will be applicable to all locally incorporated authorized institutions.

Indonesia

Bank Indonesia, the country’s central bank, may reduce the maximum deposit guarantee at banks as the risk that banks may fail has been reduced. The country’s maximum guarantee for deposit at banks was raised to $227,000 from $11,400 during the financial crisis.

Bank Indonesia has instructed 44 banks in the country with assets of more than $1.1 billion to disclose their prime lending rates to customers via the mass media. The ruling regarding the disclosure will be effective on March 31^st 2011. 

Japan

Mizuho Financial Group will be purchasing Eurekahedge, a hedge fund research company, for about $25 million, in a bid to expand its asset management business.

Japan’s government has nominated Sayuro Shirai, an economics professor, to Bank of Japan’s policy board, replacing Miyako Suda who will be retiring.

Bank of Japan, the country’s central bank, has established an emergency taskforce and pledged to provide extra liquidity to the country’s banking system after the country was hit by an 8.9 magnitude earthquake.

Korea, South

Hana Financial Group has nominated Yun Yong-ro, ex-CEO of Industrial bank of Korea, as president and CEO of Korea Exchange Bank, its soon-to-be subsidiary. The nomination must gain the approval of Lone Star Funds, KEB’s largest current shareholder.

The Financial Services Commission (FSS), the country’s financial regulator, is planning to increase its supervision of savings banks. Savings banks that have a capital-adequacy ratio of more than 8% and a bad-loan ratio below 8% will not be given favourable lending limits. The FSS also wants to limit high risk assets and excessive expansion.

The South Korean parliament has delayed the government’s plans to charge a tax on commercial banks’ foreign debt that is aimed at preventing another shock to the country’s financial system.

Malaysia

OCBC Bank Malaysia has signed a deal with government-owned Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia (CGC) to provide up to $165 million worth of loans to small and medium enterprises on a portfolio guarantee basis. CGC helps SMEs to obtain credit facilities from banks by providing guarantee cover.

Public Bank has launched PB Asia Pacific Enterprises Fund, a fund with a market capitalization of $1 billion that allows customers to invest in domestic and Asia Pacific markets. The fund will be managed by Public Mutual, the bank’s unit trust subsidiary.

OSK Investment Bank has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Japan’s Okasan Securities Company to cooperate in cross-border trading, advisory and fund raising opportunities between Asean and Japan.

Philippines 

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the country’s financial regulator, has approved government-owned Development Bank of the Philippines’ plan to issue 10-year bonds worth $300 million.

International Finance Corporation, the World Bank’s investment arm, has purchased a 7% stake worth $46.57 million in Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation.

Singapore

Singapore has ruled out the possibility of establishing an export-import bank in the city-state in the near future, stating that setting up such a bank may prevent commercial banks from expanding their involvement in cross-border financing.

Temasek, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, has increased its stake in Pakistan’s NIB Bank, spending $74 million on the bank’s shares. Temasek already owns 74% of the Pakistan-based bank prior to this.

Taiwan

The Financial Supervisory Commission, the country’s financial regulator, may raise the risk weighting given to mortgages for residential homes not lived in by their owners in a bid to cool the country’s overheated housing sector.

Taiwan Cooperative Bank, with the approval of country’s Ministry of Finance, is planning to convert into a financial holding firm in November 2011.

Bank of Taiwan is planning a strategic partnership with China’s ICBC and Bank of Communications to expand into the mainland’s financial trust market.

Thailand 

Government-owned Government Housing Bank plans to reduce costs, increase the number of branches in rural areas and partner with private banking partners to help low-income households access its mortgage services and help maintain the bank’s market share in the mortgage sector in light of increasing competition from commercial banks.