Keywords:

“There’s almost no chance that we’ve made a mistake.”
Jamie Dimon, CEO, JP Morgan Chase, reportedly commenting on widespread allegations that mortgage lenders have been using dubious practices to push through foreclosures in the US.

The following are notes from our Monday morning meeting.

Major US banks Citi, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are expected to release positive quarterly results this week.

IKB, which became Germany’s first casualty of the financial crisis in 2007, is up for sale by private equity owner Lone Star, in a market with several banks looking for suitors.

Mauritius is launching a commodity derivatives, energy and African currency trading project with Indian exchange operator Financial Technologies, with the support of local, Indian and global banks.

Israel’s government is seeking a buyer for its final holding in Discount Bank, an 11% stake worth $223m; if sold, it will retain stakes only in Bank Leumi.

Japanese megabanks MUFG, SMFG and Mizuho will sell off $24.6b in cross-shareholdings over the next three years to prepare for stricter capital requirements.

China’s regulator is allowing Taiwan’s Cathay United Bank and Hua Nan Bank to set up their first branches in Shanghai and Shenzhen respectively.

The IFC will pay $186m for a 10% stake in Vietnam’s state-owned VietinBank.

Singapore’s three-month interbank rates hit a record low with a flood of hot money responding to the central bank’s tightened monetary policy.

The new CEO of Sri Lanka's Union Bank of Colombo is Anil Amarasuriya, the former head of Sampath Bank, which has been a major shareholder since 2008.
 
ANZ chairman John Moschel is among those calling on regulators to allow banks to raise funds by selling covered bonds at home to lower their cost of raising funds.