Citi to take $1.5B charge for South Korea exit; NAB to cut fossil fuel financing

TOP NEWS IN BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES

* Citigroup Inc. expects to take on a charge of up to $1.5 billion as it moves ahead with winding down its consumer banking business in South Korea, with most of it related to severance costs tied to voluntary early retirement programs, the Financial Times of London reported.

* National Australia Bank Ltd., or NAB, capped its oil and gas exposure at default at $2.4 billion, with plans to cut exposure from 2026 through 2050, in alignment with the International Energy Agency's Net Zero by 2050 scenario. The Australian bank said it would not finance new or material expansions of coal-fired power generation facilities.

➤ Margin, provision risk to weigh on top Chinese banks' earnings in Q4

The four largest lenders in China reported a total net income of 282.34 billion yuan in the quarter ended Sept. 30, a year-over-year growth of 13.2%, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

➤ Some US banks book double-digit energy loan growth in Q3

Of the nine U.S. banks with at least $500 million exposure to the energy sector, three posted double-digit quarter-on-quarter increases in loans to the sector, one recorded a 1% uptick and five posted decreases ranging from 3.3% to 17%.

BANKING

* PT Bank Capital Indonesia Tbk appointed Yenny Hoo director, replacing Gatot Wahyu Djatmiko, Bisnis Indonesia reported. Meanwhile, the Indonesian bank is planning a rights issue of 20 billion shares at a price of 100 rupiah apiece.

* The Thai Credit Retail Bank PCL is considering a Thailand IPO from which it could raise up to $400 million, Bloomberg News reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter. The bank may decide not to proceed with an IPO and a listing could be delayed beyond 2022.

* National Australia Bank reported cash earnings for the year ended Sept. 30 of A$6.56 billion, up 76.8% from A$3.71 billion in the prior-year period. The results included a credit impairment writeback of A$217 million. The bank declared a final dividend of 67 Australian cents, payable Dec. 15.

* Avenue Bank CEO George Confos said the Australian banking startup plans to conduct an IPO within 2.5 years of receiving its full banking license, slated for 2022, The Australian Financial Review reported.

* Bank of New Zealand reported a statutory net profit attributable to shareholders for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30 of NZ$1.32 billion, up 73.5% from NZ$762 million in the prior-year period. It also reported a credit impairment writeback of NZ$37 million.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

* Ant Group Co. Ltd. said it is working to differentiate the credit services provided by its short-term consumer loan platform, Jiebei, from loans offered by third-party banks or other financial institutions as part of a broader restructuring, Reuters reported. Chinese regulators had ordered Ant to complete the branding restructuring of its Huabei and Jiebei credit businesses within six months after its consumer finance firm begins operations.

* Mastercard Inc. is collaborating with Thai cryptocurrency exchange operator Bitkub Online Co. Ltd. and other Asia Pacific-based cryptocurrency services platforms to launch cryptocurrency payment cards, which would allow users to convert digital tokens into traditional fiat currency, Thai Rath reported.

* Airwallex (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. was granted a major payment institution license by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The Singaporean unit of Australia-based Airwallex Pty. Ltd. plans to introduce its services to small and medium-sized businesses in the city-state.

* The digital payments and financial services unit of Amazon.com Inc.'s India business, Amazon Pay, raised almost 10.0 billion rupees from Singapore-based Amazon Corporate Holdings Pvt. Ltd. and 999,000 rupees from Mauritius-based Amazon.com Inc. Ltd., Mint reported, citing regulatory filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

* Shriram Capital Ltd. is nearing a deal to merge with its nonbank financial arms, Shriram Transport Finance Co. Ltd. and Shriram City Union Finance Ltd., with ICICI Securities Ltd. advising on the merger, Bloomberg News reported, citing sources. Its insurance business will not be a part of a potential merger after the Reserve Bank of India objected to the plan.

* One97 Communications Ltd.'s IPO, the biggest such offering in India, was subscribed 18% on the first day of bidding, with the retail investor portion subscribed at 78%, while those reserved for institutional investors and high net worth individuals subscribed at 6% and 2%, respectively, Mint reported.

* Afterpay Ltd. is planning to add mortgages and other loans from Westpac Banking Corp. to its product range in 2022 with the launch of its new Money app in Australia, The Australian Financial Review reported. The app offers one daily transaction account with a physical debit card, digital wallet offering and a real-time payments service with Westpac Banking as a Service.

POLICY AND REGULATION

* The People's Bank of China introduced a monetary policy tool that will support projects aimed at reducing carbon emissions by providing cheap lending to financial institutions, China Daily reported.

* Chinese financial regulators are requiring some joint-stock banks to refrain from using nonstandard financing for registered capital, equity investment and other related investments, the 21st Century Business Herald reported.

* The Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas signed an enhanced cooperation agreement to facilitate interoperable payments between Singapore and the Philippines by linking the two countries' real-time and QR payment systems.

* The Reserve Bank of India issued directions to Babaji Date Mahila Sahakari Bank Ltd., barring the lender from granting or renewing loans and advances, as well as making any investment or incurring liability, among other things, without the central bank's prior approval.

Click here for a summary of indexes on the S&P Capital IQ Pro platform.

R Sio, Eden Estopace, Sally Wang, Sarun Saelee, Cathy Hwang, Emi White and Aditya Suharmoko contributed to this report.

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