Regional/ international

Italy’s big banks including UniCredit, Intesa Sanpaolo and Monte dei Paschi, said they will not launch rights issues to meet new global capital standards but cut dividends instead.

Crédit Agricole has been sued in New York by investors who allege that it set up two collateralised debt obligation (CDO) transactions with poor-quality assets in order for a US hedge fund to bet against it and fraudulently induced investors to purchase $70.5 million of notes.

Bank of America for the first time acknowledged finding some mistakes in foreclosure files as it begins to resubmit documents in 102,000 cases. The lender discovered errors in 10 to 25 out of the first several hundred foreclosure cases it examined. In certain cases, information about the property and payment history didn't match.

Middle East

Oman's BankMuscat has started its private banking operations in Saudi Arabia in a continued effort to expand their presence and range of services in the region.

The CEO of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) has indicated that the bank will diversify its lending portfolio to avoid risks. ADCB says that it has learned the lessons from its experience with troubled Dubai World to which the bank was one of the biggest lenders.

The UAE's Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) has signed an agreement with the Dubai police to allow the bank's customers to pay their traffic fines through online banking, the first in the country to offer such a service.

Indochina

Taiwanese Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank is set to open a branch in Vietnam by the end of the year. The Vietnamese branch will be the second overseas subsidiary of the bank after opening its Hong Kong office in 2008.

Vietnam Military Bank is set to open a branch in Laos after receiving regulatory approval. The Laotian branch will receive an initial capital of $12 billion.

South Asia

The Reserve Bank of India has sent to the finance ministry a draft of its discussion paper on conversion of foreign bank branches into wholly-owned subsidiaries. The draft is understood to recommend compulsory local incorporation, coupled with increased market access for foreign banks.

ANZ received final approval for a foreign bank licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowing it to establish a foreign bank branch in India in the first half of 2011. ANZ’s business in India will have an initial focus on corporate and institutional banking.

India’s microfinance companies are offering their 6.7m borrowers in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh the option of restructuring outstanding loans that amount to up to $2.7 billion.

India’s state-owned Indian Bank got approval from the Reserve Bank India to open a branch in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, and expects it to be functional by the end of December.

Australia/New Zealand

Sean Hughes has been named as the chief executive-designate of the FMA, New Zealand’s new integrated market conduct regulator. Hughes is currently a senior executive at the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (Asic) and has held senior positions at National Australia Bank and the ANZ.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the nation’s competition watchdog has demanded more power to deal with any collusion among lenders when setting interest rates.

A new Bank of Queensland savings account that offers tickets in a monthly lottery rather than a competitive interest rate has been slammed for encouraging gambling.Consumer and anti-gambling advocates flagged legal action within hours of the product being revealed at the bank's full-year profit announcement in Brisbane.

China

China's securities regulator approved the rights issue plans proposed by China Construction Bank  and Bank of China. China Construction Bank would raise about $11.28 billion and Bank of China  about $9 billlion from their rights issues in Shanghai and Hong Kong respectively.

China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) said Chinese interest rates will gradually be set by market forces and the proportion of direct financing will rise in the next five years. It also said it will also allow big financial institutions to fail and exit the market in the future.

The CBRC has reportedly ordered lenders to halt real estate loans to propeorty developers found to be hording land or property. It also told banks not to accept loan applications from developers that don’t put up the projects they’re borrowing for as collateral for the loans.

Hong Kong

Bank of East Asia has launched an interest rate and currency linked deposit in an effort to capitalise the market's growing appetite for the Chinese renminbi.

Bank of China Hong Kong has received regulatory approval to enter the China interbank bond market.

Indonesia

Bank Indonesia is set to offer term deposits with longer maturities in a bid to reduce currency volatility.

Japan

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFJ) will be boosting its total outstanding loans in China to $12 billion within the next two years. The bank aims to grow its network of branches and offices to 20 locations from today's 12.

Korea, South

South Korea's government has confirmed the sale of its 57% stake in Woori Finance Holdings. The stake is currently valued at $6.02 billion.

Malaysia

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has signed an MOU with Bank of Mauritius to establish a collaborative framework to enhance capacity building and human capital development in Mauritius' financial services industry. Under the MOU, BNM will strengthen business linkages and provide infrastructure support in Islamic finance to Mauritius.

Philippines

The country's second largest lender, Metrobank, is seeking to raise around $230 million in a rights issue by the end of the year. The bank seeks to improve its capital adequacy ratio ahead of stricter regulatory requirements based on the international standards.

Banco de Oro Unibank (BDO), the country's largest bank by assets, has successfully raised $300 million from US dollar denominated fixed rate notes which were nine times oversubscribed.

Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the country's regulator, has put all applications to issue debt instruments on hold pending reviews of the upcoming Basel III standards. No approvals will be issued by BSP for the remainder of the year.

Singapore

Stanchart will hire 300 private bankers over the next three years in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings sold its entire 9.6 percent stake in South Korea's Hana Financial Group at $606.9 million.

Taiwan

DBS Taiwan has relocated its headquarters to the A12 building at the heart of the the country's financial district. The bank aims for local incorporation by next year and seeks to be one of the top three banks in the country by 2015.

Taiwan Cooperative bank is in talks with the government to offer home improvement and small business recovery loans at lower interests for victims of the recent typhoon that wreaked havoc on the island.

Thailand

Thanachart Bank targets an expansion of its market share in commercial and SME loans to 10% from the current state of 6%. The bank aims to leverage its recent acquisition of Siam City Bank and its partnership with Canada's Scotiaban to increase its distribution network.

Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker