Regional/ International

JP Morgan Chase has expanded its corporate bank division ahead of schedule, as it will achieve its goal of hiring at least 300 bankers for the division by the end of 2012. The bank has refocused its efforts on the corporate banking sector after experiencing a decline in investment banking and trading activities.

Sridhar Chandrasekharan has been appointed the new chief executive of HSBC Global Asset Management. He will report to chief executive of retail banking and wealth management Paul Thurston and HSBC chief executive Brian Robertson. Chandrasekharan replaces John Flint, who has been named chief of staff to the group CEO and group head of strategy and planning.

HSBC may be relocating its headquarters from London to Hong Kong, as the bank is claiming that stricter regulations in Britain are costing an additional $2.5 billion a year.

Middle East

Saudi Rajhi Bank has started early discussions with Kuwait Finance House regarding its plan to purchase a substantial stake in the Kuwaiti financial institution.

UAE’s Ajman Bank has appointed Marwan Ibrahim Al Zarooni as its VP, head of branches.

Zurich International Life Bahrain has become ICICI Bank Bahrain branch's exclusive provider for conventional life insurance products in the kingdom, under a new 'appointed representative' agreement between the two parties.

Indochina

The country’s central bank has penalised HDBank for violating the deposit interest rate cap, ordering the bank to cap its credit growth at 10% next year and not to open new branches, transaction offices, or ATMs for a year starting November 20. Senior officials were also sacked.

The State Bank of Vietnam, the country’s central bank, has given approval for the merger of Shinhan Vina Bank and Shinhan Vietnam Bank.

Government-owned BIDV will be extending a loan worth $238 million  to Ho Chi Minh City-based De Nhat Bank.

South Asia

A customer of HSBC India has been charged with tax evasion by the US government. The customer, Ashvin Desai, who is based in California, allegedly failed to report about $1.3 million in interest income from the bank. 

 The State Bank of Pakistan has asked all financial institutions to submit a full report on their investment portfolio in public and private sectors. The central bank required details of investments made in the form of loans, term finance certificates, participation term certificates, debentures, sukuk and bonds.

A Bangladeshi commercial bank will open a foreign exchange branch in Male, the capital of Maldives, to enable expatriates to send back remittances more easily.

Australia/New Zealand

Australia’s ANZ Banking Group has appointed Michael Luk as global head of debt origination and head of capital markets in Asia. Luk, who most recently served as head of Asia Pacific debt capital markets at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, will be based in Hong Kong.

China

HSBC China has received a capital injection worth $440 million from its parent company, raising its registered capital to $1.7 billion.

China Investment Corporation (CIC), the country’s sovereign wealth fund, has purchased $1.75 billion worth of shares in China Construction Bank. This has increased CIC’s stake to 60.5% from 59.3%.

China will be establishing a joint venture credit-guarantee company which has a total investment value of $803 million. JP Morgan will be investing about $200 million for a 24.9% stake. The company will help small and medium-sized companies gain access to financing.

Canada’s Manulife and Bank of China have signed a new deal that increases cooperation in areas of insurance custody and bancassurance in China.

Hong Kong

Banks across Hong Kong are cutting jobs in retail and investment banking, including Nomura, HSBC, Citi and Credit Suisse.

Indonesia

Bank Indonesia, the country’s central bank, has requested for the establishment of a regulator to monitor the e-money industry and to protect customers, as more Indonesians are using their mobile phones to make purchases and conduct banking transactions.

Japan

Nomura Holdings' head of India investment banking, Nipun Goel, and two other senior investment bankers have quit as part of the Japanese bank's plan to save costs. The Japanese bank posted its first quarterly loss in 2-1/2 years earlier this month due to a slump in investment banking revenues and tripled its cost-cutting target to $1.2 billion.

Mizuho will cut 3,000 jobs as Japanese banks battle weak demand for credit at home and a tough global growth environment, which saw half-year profits at the lender and smaller rival Sumitomo Mitsui fall by a quarter.

Citigroup is moving to try to quell anger among regulators in Japan who are growing increasingly impatient at what they see as the bank's inability to fix regulatory problems that have led to three scandals in seven years.

Korea, South

Financial regulators’ planned action against Lone Star Funds is expected to affect the fate of Kim Seung-yu, the chairman of Hana Financial Group, which is seeking to acquire Korea Exchange Bank from the U.S.-based equity fund.

Woori Bank is getting ready to file a lawsuit against some of the world’s biggest banks – including Citigroup, Bank of America and The Royal Bank of Scotland  – over risky derivative instruments sold by these banks to Woori over the 2005-2006 period.

Debt-ridden Tomato Savings Bank may find a new owner with Shinhan Financial and Woori Finance who are both vying for the suspended institution, which has suffered irate customers, investigations and now an executive's suicide.

Malaysia

KFH-Malaysia's Chief Executive Officer Jamelah Jamaluddin has recently been conferred a state honours award from the Sultan of the State of Kelantan, Sultan Muhammad V.

Malaysia's central bank has introduced a host of rules for credit cardholders, amid concerns that household debt here has risen to levels among the highest in Asia.

OCBC Bank Malaysia has launched a new mortgage loan facility for Malaysians who are looking to purchase residential properties in prime sections of Sydney and Melbourne in Australia.

The Philippines

Global financial services provider Rabobank and Raiffeisen Bank are interested in the Philippines’ Special Program for Cooperative Banks. The financial institutions intend to join the incentive program either as providers of technical or financial assistance.

Singapore

United Overseas Bank (UOB) has set up an investment management company together with US firm Eagle Rock. In a stock exchange filing, UOB said its subsidiary UOB Global Capital will own 33.3% of UOB Eagle Rock - the investment management vehicle based in Delaware.

Singapore Post has formed a major partnership with DBS which will see basic banking services offered at all Singapore post offices from January. The alliance is the first ever tie-up between SingPost and a bank, and will see the bank’s retail outreach within the city-state expanding from 80 branches to 140.

Taiwan

Credit Suisse Taipei Bank Branch, which handles fixed- income, foreign exchange and money market business, will be shuttered, but will keep equity research, sales trading and corporate advisory services in Taiwan.

Chinatrust Financial, Taiwan's top credit card issuer, plans to team up with China Development Bank in asset management, private equity and venture capital to raise funds and jointly invest in Taiwan firms operating in China.

DBS Bank announced recently it will be launching a range of offshore Rmb-related businesses, having received official approval from the Financial Supervisory Commission. The bank's offshore banking unit will offer products and services including deposits, remittances, letters of credit services and financing, term loan financing, as well as foreign exchange and derivatives.

Thailand

The World Bank has offered loans of US$1 billion, or about 30 billion baht, to Thailand for investment in long-term flood prevention projects. Borrowing from the bank would help guarantee that any projects undertaken would be transparent as the bank would witness the procedure.