Hong Kong bourse to allow SPAC listings; Afterpay to cooperate with US probe

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TOP NEWS IN BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES

* Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. will allow special purpose acquisition companies to list in Hong Kong from Jan. 1, 2022. Following consultations that began in September, the regulator lowered the minimum number of institutional professional investors required for a SPAC listing to 20 from 30.

* Australia's Afterpay Ltd. said it would cooperate with a probe conducted by the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau into buy-now, pay-later businesses, The Australian reported.

➤ Latest China reserve ratio cut offers limited boost to loan growth, bank margins

The world's largest banking system by assets must hold at least 8.4% of cash as reserves from Dec. 15, down from 8.9% following the previous 50-basis-point cut in July.

➤ Banks see beacon of loan growth, diversity in specialty lender deals

There have been 22 acquisitions of specialty lenders by banks in 2021, nearly double the total deals from 2020, as U.S. banks seek to deploy excess liquidity and diversify loan portfolios.

BANKING

* Japan's Financial Services Agency granted a banking license to UI Bank Co. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo Kiraboshi Financial Group Inc.

* City Index Eleventh Co. Ltd., a Tokyo-based investment fund, sold its entire stake in Shinsei Bank Ltd. to SBI Holdings Inc., Tokyo's The Nikkei reported, citing a filing submitted to the Ministry of Finance's Kanto Local Finance Bureau.

* The Joyo Bank Ltd. said it would share six ATM locations with Tsukuba Bank Ltd. as part of a business partnership between the two Japanese lenders.

* Indonesia's PT Bank Mandiri Taspen intends to raise about 700 billion rupiah of capital through a rights issuance in 2022, Bisnis Indonesia reported.

* The shareholders of United Coconut Planters Bank approved the lender's planned merger with Land Bank of the Philippines. The latter said its total assets would likely grow to nearly 3 trillion Philippine pesos following the merger.

* Union Bank of India said it is raising 5 billion Indian rupees via the issuance of Basel III-compliant additional Tier 1 bonds on a private placement basis, with a green shoe option to retain oversubscription up to 10 billion rupees.

* ICICI Bank Ltd. allotted 50,000 senior unsecured redeemable long-term bonds in the nature of debentures aggregating to 50 billion rupees on a private placement basis. The bonds carry a coupon of 6.96% per year.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

* The Korea Exchange said it gave 20 brokerages in South Korea the green light to take part in carbon emissions trading from Dec. 20, Yonhap News Agency reported.

* Indian digital payments firm Razorpay raised $375 million as part of its Series F fundraising round co-led by hedge and private equity firms Lone Pine Capital, Alkeon Capital and TCV, Mint reported.

* Kotak Securities Ltd., a unit of Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., entered into a definitive agreement with Entroq Technologies Pvt. Ltd. to acquire about 7.50% of the total share capital of the firm for a total cash consideration of about 30 million rupees.

* Australia-based OFX Group Ltd. agreed to acquire 100% of Canada's FIRMA Foreign Exchange Corp. for a total consideration of C$90 million. OFX will fund the purchase with cash and an underwritten debt facility, and expects to complete the acquisition in the first quarter of fiscal 2023.

POLICY AND REGULATION

* China's stock connect scheme linking Shanghai and London will be broadened to include Shenzhen-listed companies, as well as capital markets in Germany and Switzerland, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said.

* Chinese officials are planning to ban online brokerages such as Futu Holdings Ltd. and UP Fintech Holding Ltd. from offering offshore trading services to clients due to concerns over data security and capital outflows, a source told Reuters.

* State Bank of Vietnam Governor Nguyen Thi Hong said the regulator will enhance inspections to discover illegal finance companies and protect the interests of consumers and licensed finance companies, Viet Nam News reported.

* Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno said the Philippine central bank will require financial institutions to undergo an approval process, including security and risk management standards, before offering electronic payments and financial services, BusinessWorld reported.

* The central board of the Reserve Bank of India discussed the proposed central bank digital currency as an "effective answer" to cryptocurrencies and private exchanges, Mint reported, citing an unnamed source.

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

As of Dec. 17, US$1 was equivalent to 14,370 Indonesian rupiah, 49.90 Philippine pesos and 76 Indian rupees.

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

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