Regional/ International

JP Morgan, Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland, Credit Suisse and UBS are facing a lawsuit filed by Thornburg Mortgage, where they are accused of acting together in using unjustified margin calls to extend their control over Thornburg, leading the company into bankruptcy. Thornburg seeks to recover seeks to recover $2 billon for fraudulent conveyances and transfers by the banks.

Fumiyuki Akikusa, president of Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley has resigned after MUFJ traders racked up $1.2 billion in trading losses over the January - March period. His former deputy Toshiro Toyoizumi has stepped in to fill the gap.

Standard Chartered has named Diana Layfield as the regional CEO for Africa. She replaces Mike Hart, who has been appointed as vice chairman for the bank’s operations in Africa.

Middle East

HSBC has named Talal Alghalib as its new market head of private banking in Qatar. He was previously a partner in a banking and finance advisory firm and a board member of Bahrain-based Khaleeji Commercial Bank.

Bahrain’s Al Baraka Bank is planning to buy an Indonesian bank for about $100 million. Al Baraka Bank, which has identified four possible choices, will convert the bank into an Islamic bank.

The National Bank of Abu Dhabi has opened its second branch in Jordan, located in Wadi Abdoun.

Indochina

Due to government fears of losing control of state assets, The State Bank of Vietnam, the country’s central bank, has ruled that foreign investors seeking to buy 15% or more of a Vietnamese state-owned bank must have total assets of at least $20 billion in the year before they buy a stake.

Malaysia’ Hong Leong Bank has launched its Hanoi branch, their second in Vietnam after Ho Chi Minh, at the same time offering its first priority banking service to cater to affluent customers.

Malaysia’s Maybank has opened its 10^th branch in Cambodia. Based in Kampong Cham, the new branch will offer retail and transaction banking services and products.

South Asia

Government-owned Indian Bank will sell 61.4 million shares to raise about $336-359 million via a follow-on public offer (FPO) in October 2011.

The State Bank of Pakistan, the country’s central bank, plans to increase the country’s participation in Islamic finance to 12% from 7%.

Central Bank of Sri Lanka has unveiled new regulations which limit commercial banks’ lending to purchase stocks to less than 5% of total loans. Banks which have already exceeded this limit have been asked to reduce their exposure by March 31^st 2012.

Australia/New Zealand

New Zealand’s Kiwibank has closed the bank accounts of an Auckland operation which has created around 2500 shell companies - including one for an illicit North Korean arms smuggler.

China

The People's Bank of China, the country’s central bank, will be signing a currency swap agreement with the Central Bank of the People's Republic of Mongolia in order to facilitate renminbi-based trade settlements.

 China Construction Bank has expressed interest in purchasing a stake in Malaysia’s EON Capital. The bank is reportedly awaiting approval from the country’s Ministry of Finance to begin discussions with shareholders of the bank.

Bank of Jiangsu will soon be launching a $1.5 billion IPO. It application was submitted to the China Securities Regulatory Commission in the third quarter of last year.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission has fined HSBC Trinkaus Investment Management, the bank’s investment unit for non-compliance with guidelines concerning the distribution of equity-linked notes. The investment unit’s license has also been partially suspended for two years, effective April 30^th 2011.

Indonesia

Citibank will be faced with more sanctions by Bank Indonesia after recent investigations by the central bank discovered violations of standard procedures in Citibank’s Citigold private banking and debt collection services. The investigations were conducted following a $1.87 million embezzlement case involving a Citibank wealth manager and the death of a cardholder reportedly caused by the bank’s debt collectors.

Lembaga Penjamin Simpanan, the country’s state deposit agency, is planning to sell Bank Mutiara, a bank which the Indonesian government bailed out in November 2008, by November 2011.

Japan

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ will resume paying corporate taxes this year, as it has cleared all cumulative losses earlier incurred from the disposal of bad loans during the economic downturn.

Incubator Bank of Japan, which has filed for bankruptcy following police investigations for allegedly obstructing a government audit, has transferred part of its operations to Second Bridge Bank of Japan, a vehicle bank setup to hold its operations until a stable financial institution has been found for sponsorship. Bad loans will be sold to the Resolution and Collection Corporation.

Korea, South

KDB Financial Group may be making a bid to take on Woori Finance Holdings in a close to $6 billion deal.

The Korean government will establish a new bank next month to handle an excess of $933 million worth of non-performing debt. The bank will operate under United Asset Management Corporation, a private debt clearer, and support troubled builders deemed as viable after credit-risk assessments by their lenders.

Malaysia

EON Capital, the parent company of EON Bank, has accepted Hong Leong Bank’s $1.7 billion takeover bid, creating the country’s fourth-largest banking group. As part of the deal, HLB will allow EON Bank to pay a $105.2 million dividend when the takeover bid is approved by Bank Negara Malaysia, the country’s central bank.

Bank Negara Malaysia will be setting up a representative office in Beijing in order to form closer working relationships with Chinese regulators and financial institutions.

Kuwait Finance House (Malaysia) has opened a new branch in Kota Bharu, Kelantan to offer banking products and services to businesses and retailers there.

The Philippines

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the country’s financial regulator, has imposed fines totalling about $90,000 on 20 large banks, including commercial and thrift banks, for non-compliance with compulsory loans to micro, small and medium enterprises.

Chinatrust (Philippines) Bank, a unit of Taipei-based Chinatrust Commercial Bank, has requested permission from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to upgrade its status from a commercial bank to a universal bank. A universal bank license will enable the bank to expand its services in the onshore capital market, which is in line with its expansion plans.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has decided to use a single guideline to govern the credit operations of banks and other financial institutions in the country, allowing the financial regulator to implement a single credit collection system on all types of loans in order to better protect all financial customers.

Singapore

DBS Bank has named Toby O'Connor to head its Islamic unit as CEO. O'Connor has been in banking for 19 years with experience in investment banking, handling capital market and private equity transactions at JP Morgan in the Middle East and North Africa.

DBS Bank has signed a MOU with Sumitomo Trust for better co-operation in Asia, following Nikko Asset Management’s agreement to buy DBS Asset Management for $105 million.

Taiwan

Mizuho Financial Group and Bank of Taiwan have signed a three-year $200 million cross border syndicate for Banco Santander Chile in the world’s first all-Asian bank syndication for a Chilean bank.

Cathay United Bank will be signing agreements of cooperation with Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, and Bank of Communications.

Thailand

Government-owned Government Housing Bank, the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank and the Small Business Credit Guarantee Corporation will provide one-stop banking services to small-and medium-enterprises (SMEs) in an effort to boost service efficiency as part of an initiative by Thailand’s Ministry of Finance to provide better financing to SMEs.

Krung Thai Bank has appointed ANZ Bank and Standard Chartered Bank to help arrange a three-year unsecured $100 million loan to raise working capital.