Regional/ International

Bank of America has named David Reilly as the company’s shared technology infrastructure executive, accountable for designing, building and operating Bank of America's enterprise technology infrastructure and operations.

HSBC in New York has lost an appeal requesting a dismissal charges by a group of Taiwanese banks that accuse HSBC Bank USA of helping deceased financier Danny Pang’s PEMGroup defraud them of more than $500 million. 

Middle East

Qatar National Bank Group has launched its subsidiary QNB Financial Services following licensing by Qatar Financial Markets Authority.

Oman's central bank has granted approval to set up Bank Nizwa, a new bank providing Islamic service. Oman is the only Gulf Arab state which until now has not set up a bank specifically offering products and services complying with Islamic law.

Barwa Bank is in talks with local conventional banks following the Qatar Central Bank decision to tighten Islamic finance regulations.

Indochina

State Bank of Vietnam has made public the draft decree on the operation of financial leasing and finance companies, with the new provisions aiming to tighten the control over the companies.

The government of Vietnam has appointed Credit Suisse Group as an adviser to sell a 20 percent stake in Vietcombank.

South Asia

Bank of Ceylon will be opening four more branches in India, with its branch in Chennai to function as the head office of the Indian operation.

ICBC has commenced operations in Pakistan with the opening of branches in Karachi and Islamabad, paving the way for greater Chinese investment in the country.

Citibank has appointed Vikram Sud as head of operations and technology for Asia Pacific, to be based in Mumbai. Sud will be responsible for managing technology and shared services across 18 countries in the region.

Australia/New Zealand

Gavin Walker  will be replacing Gary Judd as chairman of ASB Bank, the local unit of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, this coming August. Judd's retirement marks an end to a 26-year career at the bank.

ANZ customers have become the latest victims in a litany of online banking outages, with services unavailable for just over an hour during the middle of business hours mid last week.

China

China Eximbank has signed an agreement with ANZ Bank in Beijing to boost trade flow and cross-border deals between China, Australia and New Zealand. ANZ will provide China Eximbank with finance facilities, offshore yuan bonds and other resources.

China's Securities Regulatory Commission has approved a restructuring plan by Shenzhen Development Bank, allowing the mid-sized Chinese lender to merge with the banking unit of Ping An Insurance.

Hong Kong

 Barclays Wealth has launched renminbi services exclusively for its private banking clients, offering a wide range of Rmb investment products, including deposits, deliverable spots and forwards, foreign exchange swaps, inward and outward remittances as well as bonds.

China Guangfa Bank, previously known as Guangdong Development Bank, a provincial bank 20% owned by Citigroup, is planning to raise up to $5 billion from dual Hong Kong-Shanghai listings either later this year or in early 2012.

HKMA has granted Shanghai Pudong Development Bank licence to operate current and savings accounts.

Indonesia

Bank Indonesia has announced that it requires more time to complete its investigation into alleged fraud at Bank Mega from oil and gas firm Elnusa and the Batubara regency administration

Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Negara, a mid-size Indonesian lender controlled by private equity firm TPG Capital, is looking at possible acquisitions of micro-finance players as its loan growth slows.

Japan

Mizuho Corporate Bank has been granted approval by The People’s Bank of China to invest in China’s interbank bond market from overseas, making it the first Japanese Bank to be granted access to conduct RMB bond investments into China’s interbank bond market.

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ has announced the appointment of Terry McKay as managing director and head of the newly established Global Financial Solutions Group within the bank’s corporate and investment banking organization. McKay was formerly executive vice president, corporate finance, at Rabobank International.

Korea, South

ING Bank in South Korea is looking at various options, including capital raising, to comply with tighter ceilings in foreign exchange derivative positions.

Bank of Korea has announced that it has absorbed $10.38 billion) from the financial system via 7-day repurchase agreements.

Malaysia

Kuwait Finance House, the first foreign Islamic bank in the country, has launched the KFH Cash Management Solutions, an online portal designed specifically to manage business banking transactions and offer an end-to-end financial solution.

AmBank has issued five new European-style cash-settled call warrants to meet investor demand for trading opportunities and alternative investments. The CWs were listed with tenures of approximately eleven months and issue size of up to $33 million each.

The Philippines

Former national treasurer Sergio G. Edeza will take over as CEO of Bank of Commerce starting June 13 this year, following the resignation of its president and CEO Billy Z. Goquingco. Goquingco cited family reasons for leaving Bank of Commerce.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and its policy-making body, the Monetary Board (MB), has filed their counter-affidavits at the Department of Justice on charges of violations of the Anti-graft and Corrupt Practices Act filed by stockholders of the Banco Filipino Savings and Mortgage Bank.

Singapore

DBS Asset Management (DBSAM), a subsidiary of DBS Bank, has launched DBS Asia Asset Allocator Fund, a key initiative resulting from the partnership among DBSAM, DBS Bank and Nikko Asset Management in bringing long-term asset management solutions to the region's rising affluent.

OCBC has launched “FRANK by OCBC”, a new banking programme designed specially to cater for the youths and young working adults segment. The programme aims to give this so-far relatively disengaged segment a banking experience that is holistic and meaningful.

HSBC has announced plans to increase its staff here by 1,000 across various areas of operation from now until 2016.

Taiwan

DBS Bank has inaugurated its new Taiwan headquarters at Shin Kong Xinyi Financial Centre at the heart of Taipei’s financial district, in an effort to strengthen its presence in Taiwan.

E. Sun Commercial Bank, the flagship company of E. Sun Financial Holding, has announced plans to upgrade a representative office in Dongguan, China's Guangdong Province, into a full-service branch.

The board of Taiwan Cooperative Bank has approved a plan to expand into a financial holding company to boost its operating efficiency, earnings ability and economic scale.

Thailand

Siam Commercial Bank has announced plans to buy and delist Siam Industrial Credit in a final effort to resolve a regulatory problem after it failed to find a buyer for the finance affiliate in an auction earlier this year.

SME Bank will be making $66 million in credit available to small businesses affected by the political riots in Bangkok in May last year.