China Cinda buys stake in Ant arm; Thai bourse plans digital asset exchange

TOP NEWS IN BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES

* China Cinda Asset Management Co. Ltd. said it would spend 6 billion yuan to buy a 20% of stake in Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance Co., the consumer finance arm of China's Ant Group Co. Ltd. Post-transaction, Cinda Asset will hold a 24.003% stake and will become the firm's second largest shareholder. Part of the plan is to increase Chongqing Ant's capital base to 30 billion yuan from 8 billion yuan.

* Pakorn Peetathawatchai, president of The Stock Exchange of Thailand, said the Thai Digital Exchange will be launched in the third quarter of 2022 and will offer initial coin offerings and tokenization services, Bangkok Post reported. The bourse operator is applying for a digital exchange license from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

➤ Hong Kong could be more competitive in SPAC listings after tweaking rules

The tweaks cover the minimum required backing of institutional investors, as well as rules governing dilution on warrants, investments from private investments in public equity and mergers with target private businesses.

➤ Big US banks wait and see on rule changes as higher capital requirements loom

Executives say they are proceeding with growth strategies and have ample capacity for shareholder returns even as some global systemically important banks face possible higher capital surcharges if regulators do not adjust the framework.

BANKING

* The Bank of East Asia Ltd. will no longer be classified as a domestic systemically important authorized institution, or D-SIB, effective Jan. 1, 2022. An updated list of D-SIBs was released by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority following completion of its annual assessment.

* Agricultural Bank of China Ltd.'s board approved the Chinese lender's plan to issue 200 billion yuan of write-down eligible Tier 2 capital instruments between 2022 and 2024.

* South Korea's SK Securities Co. Ltd. completed the acquisition of a 93.57% stake in MS Mutual Savings Bank for 39.01 billion won. The deal was approved by the Financial Services Commission.

* Shinhan Financial Group Co. Ltd. named former IBM managing director Kim Myoung-hee as its digital chief officer, The Korea Herald reported.

* Bank of the Philippine Islands CEO Jose Teodoro Limcaoco said the Philippines-based bank's merger with its thrift bank unit, BPI Family Savings Bank, will be completed by the end of 2022, The Philippine Star reported.

* The board of India's RBL Bank Ltd. accepted Vishwavir Ahuja's request for a medical leave and appointed Rajeev Ahuja, as interim managing director and CEO, subject to regulatory and other approvals. The Reserve Bank of India also appointed Yogesh Dayal an additional director on the bank's board.

* Canara Bank raised 25 billion rupees via the issuance of nonconvertible redeemable Basel-III Tier 2 bonds.

* The subscription for Bangladesh-based Union Bank Ltd.'s 4.28 billion taka IPO began Dec. 26 and will continue until Dec. 30, The Financial Express reported.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

* Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. has reached an agreement with the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Shenzhen Stock Exchange and China Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation on the inclusion arrangements for eligible ETFs in the Stock Connect program. Preparation work will take approximately six months to complete.

* Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Holdings Co. Ltd. named Saburo Araki as chairman, Makoto Kobayashi as president and global CEO and Takashi Nagaoka as senior adviser, effective April 1, 2022.

* South Korea's Kakao Pay Corp. will acquire 1,048,221 new shares in its Kakao Pay Securities unit for 88.12 billion won Dec. 29. Kakao Pay will own 60% of Kakao Pay Securities after the transaction.

* One97 Communications Ltd. said Bhavesh Gupta, CEO of Paytm Lending, will take on the leadership of the firm's offline payments vertical in addition to his existing responsibilities.

* SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd. approved the allotment of unsecured, redeemable nonconvertible debentures to raise 6.5 billion rupees.

* India's state-sponsored bad bank is set to kick off its business from the second week of January and it plans to recruit as many as 50 professional executives for the asset management company, India Debt Resolution Co. Ltd., The Economic Times reported.

* Pakistan Stock Exchange Ltd. CEO Farrukh H. Khan said the bourse brought on board 12 banks as market-makers to ensure retail investors have easy access to the debt securities market, Dawn reported.

* E&P Financial Group Ltd. said Shine Lawyers filed a representative proceeding in the Federal Court of Australia against the company, its wholly owned unit Dixon Advisory & Superannuation Services Pty. Ltd. as well as Alan Dixon and Christopher Brown, on behalf of a group who acquired interests in the US Masters Residential Property Fund, alleging they suffered loss and damage in respect to their interest in the fund.

POLICY AND REGULATION

* The China Securities Regulatory Commission proposed to allow Chinese companies to go public abroad through the variable interest entity structure as long as they follow domestic rules and file for local registration. The securities watchdog is seeking public comment until Jan. 23, 2022.

* Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area would launch a pilot program to promote the development and greater use of the digital yuan, Shanghai Securities News reported, citing Ba Shusong, managing director of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. He also expects that the Greater Bay Area will become a center for green bonds development.

* China plans to build a financial center in the western region by 2025 and set up a mechanism of capital exchanges with Singapore and Japan, Reuters reported, citing the People's Bank of China.

* The Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Thailand, and the Government Financial Institutions Association agreed to implement clearer directions for long-term debt restructuring and measures to support debt restructuring by specialized financial institutions in 2022, the central bank said in a release.

* The Bank of Thailand said a retail central bank digital currency, or CBDC, is being developed and limited testing will start in the second half of 2022. Kasidit Tansanguan, deputy central bank director, said the central bank will evaluate the use of CBDC in cash-like activities within a limited scale, Reuters reported.

* The Reserve Bank of India fined MUFG Bank Ltd. 3 million rupees for noncompliance with the central bank's directions on loans and advances. The Japanese bank has branches in Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Neemrana and New Delhi.

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Eden Estopace, Kanas Chan, Jonathan Cheah, James Lim and Santibhap Ussavasodhi contributed to this report.

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