Regional/ International

HSBC is planning to cut up to 3,000 jobs in Hong Kong, about 13% of its staff in the city state, in a global bid to reduce costs and increase profits. 

Standard Chartered has acquired Australia-based niche investment outfit Gryphon Partners as it seeks to gain entry into the country’s investment banking sector.

Deutsche Bank is being sued by ABP, a Dutch pension fund, over claims that the fund had purchased residential mortgage-backed securities based on the bank’s supposedly misleading advice.

Canadian-based Rogers, a telecommunications provider, has applied for a banking license to establish Rogers Bank. The establishment of a bank will enable the provider to issue its own credits cards and mobile wallets.

Middle East

Standard Chartered have named Jonathan Morris as CEO for the United Arab Emirates. Morris will be replacing Jeremy Parrish who will head the bank’s Switzerland subsidiary. His appointment was effective September 1^st 2011.

UAE’s First Gulf Bank is planning to establish four representative offices in Southeast Asia. The bank is in the midst of applying for banking licenses in Jakarta, Seoul, Beijing and Hong Kong.

The Oman-based subsidiary of Switzerland’s Sarasin-Alpen has received permission from the Capital Market Authority to offer Islamic securities, products and services to customers. The subsidiary is already providing wealth management-related advisory services.

Indochina

Goldman Sachs, ANZ, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered, JP Morgan Chase B and Deutsche Bank are among ten foreign banks that are vying to become advisers for privately-owned VietinBank’s efforts to increase its registered capital.

The State Bank of Vietnam, the country’s central bank, will be closely monitoring bond transactions carried out by foreign banks in the country, beginning from October 20^th 2011.

South Asia

Sri Lanka Cargills, a food, beverage and retail company has received permission from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to establish Cargills Agriculture and Commercial Bank.

Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank, has given approval to ICBC to commence operations in India in 2011. Rabobank and Woori bank have also received permission to expand their operations in the country.

Bangladesh Bank, the country’s central bank, has frozen a proposal to give out licenses for new private commercial banks. Currently, the central bank bars new banks from being established in the country.

Australia/New Zealand

Reserve Bank of New Zealand has set up a new council of financial regulators aimed at improving the exchange of information between financial and prudential regulators in the country.  The Financial Markets Association is a permanent member of the council whereas the Treasury and Ministry of Economic Development are associate members.

Westpac has named Ann Pickard as non-executive director. Pickard, who will also be joining the bank’s board, will replace chairman Ted Evans who is retiring. 

China

China Banking Regulatory Commission, the country’s financial regulator, will bar banks from entering the stock market in a bid to reduce their exposure to associated risks. CBRC will also prevent banks from providing guarantees for corporate bonds, as banks need to improve their lending regulations.

Bank of China Hong Kong is proposing to sell about $15 billion in bonds over the next one year.

Italy’s UniCredit will be opening new branches and doubling its staff in China. The bank currently has branches in Shanghai and Guangzhou and a representative office in Beijing.

Hong Kong

Hang Seng Bank has named Nixon Chan as head of retail banking and wealth, and Donald Lam as head of corporate and commercial banking. The appointments are effective September 7^th 2011.

Bank of East Asia has sold an additional 10% stake in its Canadian unit to ICBC for $15.9 million, reducing its stake to 20% from 30%. The bank had earlier sold a 70% stake to ICBC last January.

Indonesia

The Indonesia Deposit Insurance Corporation, which assumed responsibility for Bank Mutiara, previously known as Bank Century, in 2008, will put up the bank for sale again in October. An earlier planned sale of the bank had failed.

Privately-owned Bank Bukopin plans to raise about $117 million in bonds to raise money for its expansion plans.

Japan

Mizuho Corporate Bank has commenced operations as a locally-incorporated commercial bank in Malaysia, and plans to introduce Islamic finance services once it has obtained approval from Bank Negara Malaysia.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings is being sued for $54.3 million by trustee Irving Picard liquidating the money management firm of convicted Ponzi scheme mastermind Bernard Madoff.

The Bank of Fukuoka and other regional banks in Japan's Southwestern island of Kyushu plan to provide around $1.3 billion in a syndicated loan to Kyushu Electric Power to help the utility purchase fuel for thermal power generation and buy back corporate bonds.

Korea, South

A revised law passed by parliament will allow the Bank of Korea to expand its financial-sector oversight, including letting it jointly inspect financial institutions with regulators. The law also empowers the central bank to require domestic lenders to set aside cash reserves for bonds they issued, whereas banks now only need to have reserves for customer deposits.

Hana Bank has proceeded with a roadshow for a planned a US dollar bond issue despite grim market conditions. The bank has named Barclays Capital, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, HSBC Holdings and Hana Daetoo Securities as bookrunners for the planned bond

Malaysia

Public Bank will be launching three new funds, PB Asia Emerging Growth Fund, PB Bond Fund and PB Sukuk Fund, which will be managed by wholly-owned subsidiary Public Mutual. Up to 30% of the fund’s net asset value can be invested in companies which at the point of purchase form the next 20% of the cumulative market capitalisation of the market which the stock is listed on.

RHB has withdrawn its earlier application to Bank Negara Malaysia to appoint Renzo Viegas as managing director of RHB Bank, following the latter's intention to take time off for personal matters next year.

Kuwait Finance House Malaysia has appointed Dr Nabeel Al-Mannae independent non-executive chairman and director. Dr Nabeel, who has over 20 years of experience in the financial industry, is expected to play a pivotal role as the new chairman of the first foreign Islamic Bank in Malaysia.

The Philippines

The senate has agreed to conduct a joint investigation into the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) questionable loan transactions with former trade minister Roberto Ongpin and former board members and officials of the state-owned DBP.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), the country’s fourth-largest universal bank, has opened an additional 13 new micro-lending offices last July. So far the bank has released 4,500 loans to 864 micro-entrepreneurs.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has issued the necessary guidelines to implement the new and stricter Agri-Agra law amid protests from the country’s banking sector. The law requires banks to allocate 25% of their loanable funds for lending to the agriculture sector.

Singapore

RBC Wealth Management, part of Royal Bank of Canada, has opened a new trust office in Singapore to provide trust, estate planning, and fiduciary services to RBC Wealth Management clients from around the world.

DBS has launched three new home loan packages to attract home buyers looking to benefit from current low interest rates. One of these products is pegged to the three-month Singapore Interbank Offered Rate (Sibor) plus a spread.

Maybank Singapore has launched a new savings management tool for its deposit accounts. Depositors will not need to open multiple savings accounts when saving for different goals and occasions, and can create sub-accounts that reside within their main savings account.

Taiwan

Taiwan's central bank will be issuing the 14th set of coins in its aboriginal tribe series to honour the Seediq people. This will be the last group of commemorative coins to be issued as part of the bank's aboriginal coin series and is scheduled to be unveiled in November.

Taiwan's financial regulator will relax restrictions on Taiwanese banks investing in China, a move widely expected by market participants who are now hoping the authorities will next allow Chinese banks to invest in their Taiwanese counterparts.

Australia & New Zealand Banking Group has hired Monica Chang as a loans syndication director, based in Taipei. Chang joins from HSBC and will report to Chris Raciti, ANZ Bank’s Hong Kong based head of corporate loans syndication for North Asia.

Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission has recently revised regulations to allow Taiwanese banks operating in China to provide loans for Chinese companies starting next week.

Thailand

CIMB Thai Bank has selected JP Morgan as its Continuous Linked Settlement (CLS) third-party service provider in Thailand in a bid to reduce its foreign exchange settlement risk and help make payment-versus-payment settlement more efficient. This is the US institution’s first CLS client win in the country.

Krung Thai Bank has signed a contract with the Finance Ministry to provide subscription service for $1.67 billion worth of government bonds through the bank's 1,000 branches and 7,300 ATMs. Selling bonds via ATM is a first for the country.