Regional/ International

Christian Noyer, head of Bank of France, has rejected allegations that the country was preparing to inject about $20 billion inti the country's ailing banking sector which has been hard hit by the Greek debt crisis.

Bank of America, Nomura and HSBC have cut a combined total of 200 jobs in India; this is supposedly a prelude to expected massive layoffs in foreign banks across the Asian region due to a general slowdown in investment banking activities. 

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.

Middle East

Both National Bank of Kuwait and Kuwait Finance House have denied reports alleging that they were risking customers’ deposits by trading in derivatives.

The Central Bank of Oman will be forming a national authority to oversee the Islamic banking and finance sector. The regulator, to be named the National Shariah Board, will be responsible for institutions in this sector.

Qinvest Saudi Arabia, a unit of Qatar’s QInvest LLC, an investment bank, has started operating in Saudi Arabia after receiving a license from the kingdom’s Capital Market Authority.

Indochina

The State Bank of Vietnam, the country’s central plan, wants to set up a group comprising 12 commercial banks to address the sector's grievances and improve communication between the banking system and monetary policy makers.

Six Myanmar banks, including Myawaddy Bank, Innwa Bank, Myanmar Livestock and Fisheries Development Bank, Myanmar Industrial Development Bank, Kanbawza Bank and Myanmar Orient Bank will soon be granted licenses by Central Bank of Myanmar to open bureaus de change.

South Asia

The Reserve Bank of India has agreed to amendments to the external commercial borrowing (ECB) policy. The limit for borrowers in the real estate, industrial and infrastructure sectors has been raised to $750 million from $500 million whereas the limit for borrowers in the hotel, health and software sectors has been raised to $200 million from $100 million.

Sri Lanka’s National Development Bank is in discussions with Singapore’s DBS Bank to expand its investment banking operations.

Bangladesh Bank will be extending the timeframe for adjusting single-borrower exposure limit by commercial banks for financing the operations of their subsidiaries, which include brokerage firms and merchant banks.

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

Bank of China has stopped foreign-exchange swaps with a few European banks, including French banks Societe Generale, Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas, allegedly due to the European sovereign-debt crisis.

China Banking Regulatory Commission has given permission to Hang Seng Bank China to set up a branch in Xiamen. This will be the bank’s second branch in western China after its Fuzhou branch.

China Construction Bank launched its first private banking services in Tibet.  The service will provide personalized products and services for customers who have assets under management totalling about $500,000.

Hong Kong

StanChart has reiterated that it has no plans to reduce the number of employees in its Hong Kong branches. The bank will also spend about $13 million to refurbish all its branches across the city states.

HSBC has named Diana Cesar as head of retail banking and wealth management in the city-state. She will also be responsible for marketing activities in Hong Kong.

Indonesia

Indonesia and Iran are in talks to set up a private bank in both countries to help facilitate trade and commerce.

Bank Mutiara, which is under the responsibility of the Indonesia Deposit Insurance Corporation, plans to issue subordinated bonds worth q trillion rupiah to increase its CAR to 10-11% from 9.9%. 

Japan

SMBC Nikko Securities, a unit of Japan’s second-biggest bank by market value, has hired Kouichi Niwa, a former non-banking financial sector analyst at Mizuho Securities. Niwa’s hiring means SMBC Nikko now cover all sectors of the market for the first time since the equity research division launched in August 2010.

Sberbank of Russia has announced that it has signed a general business cooperation agreement with Mizuho Corporate Bank involving a broad range of banking activities, of both a commercial and an investment nature.

Korea, South

Barclays Capital has continued to expand its Asia equities with the appointment of senior staff in its Korea operation. Of the nine key hires, eight are from Deutsche Bank’s cash equities business, and so is one of the four more junior appointments.

A joint investigation will be launched investigating alleged corruption at mutual savings banks in the country, signalling a tougher crackdown on bribery scandals ahead of major elections. The FSC suspended the operation of seven mutual savings banks recently, in addition to the nine suspended and shut down earlier this year.

The Bank of Korea is seeking a new head of reserves management from outside of the central bank as part of an apparent attempt to bolster efficiency and foster better relations between the central bank and other market participants. This is the first time the central bank has sought an external candidate for such a position.

Malaysia

Export-Import Bank of Malaysia is evaluating loan applications close to $166 million for green technology projects in sync with the government’s call for financial institutions to support such projects.

OCBC Bank (Malaysia) aims to disburse $1.3 billion in loans for small and medium enterprises by year-end. Last year the bank disbursed about $833 million.

National Bank of Abu Dhabi is planning to open a Malaysian subsidiary in January 2012, offering a wide range of banking services, including wholesale and private banking.

The Philippines

Banco de Oro Unibank , the Philippines' largest bank by assets, sha said it is looking to offer unsecured subordinated Tier 2 notes to raise $69 million to fund its planned expansion. Deutsche Bank Manila branch, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank have been mandated as lead arrangers of Banco de Oro's second Tier 2 offer.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has sought comments from banks on a proposal to increase capital provisions for non-deliverable forward (NDFs) positions. A policy draft is circulating among banks and the feedback would be used by the policy-making Monetary Board during its deliberations on the planned measure.

Singapore

OCBC has explained the technical cause of the incident to the public, and the actions it had taken to prevent future recurrence from similar causes. MAS has noted OCBC's explanation and will review its investigation report on the incident before determining the appropriate regulatory action to take.

The Bank of China, one of China's big four state-owned commercial lenders, has set up its first overseas forfaiting and commodities finance unit in Singapore in a bid to boost its trade finance business in the Asia Pacific region.

DBS Bank has announced plans to invest a further $192 million over five years in Asian private banking. DBS has officially launched DBS Treasures Private Client in Singapore and Hong Kong, as an extension of the DBS Private Bank offering.

Taiwan

The Financial Supervisory Commission has approved Taiwan Cooperative Bank’s application to expand into a financial holding company, thereby establishing the nation’s fourth-largest financial service provider by asset size with a planned capital of $3.92 billion.

CITIC Securities has announced that subscription of its shares starts September 22nd, and that it will publicly list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on October 6th with an offering price range of $1.65 to $1.95. CITIC Securities hopes to raise $1.94 billion from the issuance.

Thailand

Bank of Thailand, the country’s central bank, has issued new regulations requiring banks to include bills of exchange as part of assets for which they need to set aside liquidity reserves.

Severe flooding has forced Krung Thai Bank, Siam Commercial Bank and Bangkok Bank to close their branches in La Ngu, Satun. Siam City Bank and Kasikornbank will close their Chanthaburi branches.