TOP NEWS IN BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES
* South Korea-based Kakao Pay Corp. CEO Ryu Young-joon said the firm plans to accelerate its global expansion in China, Southeast Asia and Europe while seeking partnerships with overseas financial technology companies and acquisition opportunities, The Korea Herald reported.
* The Thai cabinet approved a draft decree to regulate digital platform service businesses to maintain financial and commercial stability, Bangkok Post reported, citing government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana.
LEARN MORE: Join our fintech experts for a Market Intelligence Live conversation on mobile payments in the U.S. and India. Watch Live Thursday, Oct. 28, on the Capital IQ Pro platform or LinkedIn — and submit your questions via the LinkedIn event.
➤ Payments to continue to drive finance M&A in Asia-Pacific
In the quarter ended Sept. 30, the financial industry in Asia-Pacific saw $60.84 billion of M&A transactions, a significant increase from $25.25 billion in the first half, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
➤ US big techs cracking mobile payments code in India's $1 trillion market
S&P Global Market Intelligence's 2021 India Mobile Payments Market Report discusses how large U.S. technology firms are increasingly at the center of consumers' financial interactions by leveraging India's banking infrastructure for payments.
BANKING
* China's Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. agreed to provide the National Energy Administration a total of 3 trillion yuan of financing in the next five years to support the development of projects focused on green energy and carbon neutrality initiatives.
* South Korea's Toss Bank will issue 45,000,000 common shares and 15,000,000 convertible preferred shares to raise 300 billion won, or 5,000 won per share, from existing shareholders Oct. 28.
* Standard Chartered PLC appointed Vinay Gandhi regional head of ASEAN and global head of the South Asian community for its private banking segment, The Business Times reported. Gandhi, who is based in Singapore, will join the bank in the first quarter of 2022.
* DBS Group Holdings Ltd. named Soh Kian Tiong its chief risk officer, with effect from Nov. 4. Soh has been based in Hong Kong as a senior risk executive for DBS Hong Kong since June 2019.
* Suhail Sameer, CEO of India's Resilient Innovations Pvt. Ltd., or BharatPe, said the first branch of Unity Small Finance Bank, the joint venture between Centrum Financial Services Ltd. and BharatPe, will be up and running soon in Mumbai with 15 billion rupees of growth capital and a 13 billion rupee loan book, Press Trust of India reported.
* National Australia Bank Ltd. increased the number of staff managing financial crime risk by 50% in the last two years, with over 1,500 employees as of Aug. 31, The Australian reported. In the four years to June, the Australian bank had spent A$816.1 million to improve financial crime and fraud controls, the publication noted.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
* South Korea's Hanwha Investment & Securities Co. Ltd. will invest 30 billion won to acquire 4,500,000 common shares and 1,500,000 convertible preferred shares in Toss Bank on Oct. 28. Following this, Hanwha Investment & Securities' stake in Toss Bank will be 8.86%.
* The Competition Commission of India approved HDFC Bank Ltd.'s acquisition of a 4.99% shareholding in HDFC ERGO General Insurance Co. Ltd. from Housing Development Finance Corp. Ltd.
* Indian startup Clear raised $75 million from investors, including Stripe Inc., to fund its expansion into online payments and other new businesses, Bloomberg News reported.
* The board of Sterling Guaranty & Finance Ltd. approved the deregistration of the firm as a nonbanking financial company.
* Rajneesh Sharma, the administrator of Srei Infrastructure Finance Ltd. and Srei Equipment Finance Ltd., will seek a mandate from lenders to control the cashflow of the subsidiaries of the two bankrupt companies and appoint EY its financial adviser, The Economic Times reported, citing two senior officials aware of the development.
* HarMoney Corp. Ltd. announced the pricing of a A$105 million asset-backed securitization. It also anticipates a New Zealand securitization in 2022, based on market conditions.
* Australia-based Latitude Group Holdings Ltd. said it has completed the acquisition of digital personal lending business Symple Loans Pty. Ltd. and will immediately begin integrating the latter.
POLICY AND REGULATION
* China and Japan have agreed to extend a currency exchange arrangement involving 200 billion yuan in total until Oct. 25, 2024, the People's Bank of China said in a statement.
* The governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike, said Tokyo is setting up a fund of 2 billion yen to support financial technology initiatives, and it is expected to contribute 200 million yen to the fund itself, Nikkei Asia reported.
* South Korea's Financial Services Commission said it would consider invoking a consumer protection provision under the Financial Consumer Protection Act to intervene in Citibank Korea Inc.'s planned exit from retail banking.
* Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo said interbank transfer fees would soon be reduced to 2,500 rupiah from 6,500 rupiah through the new BI-FAST system, Bisnis Indonesia reported.
* Bank Indonesia extended its relaxed repayment terms for credit card debt to the end of the second quarter of 2022. Under the terms, minimum payments have been cut to 5% from 10% of the outstanding credit balance, The Jakarta Post reported.
* Australia's Victorian state government's employment watchdog, the Wage Inspectorate, filed criminal charges against National Australia Bank in the Magistrates Court for allegedly failing to pay long service leave entitlements to former staff members on casual contracts, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
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As of Oct. 25, US$1 was equivalent to 75.04 Indian rupees, 14,160 Indonesian rupiah, 1,167.73 South Korean won and ¥113.68.
R Sio, Eden Estopace, Kanas Chan, Jonathan Cheah, James Lim and Santibhap Ussavasodhi contributed to this report.
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