ANZ to move 850 roles out of China; India removes limits on IDBI Bank

TOP NEWS IN BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES

* Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. plans to cut 850 jobs in technology and back-end operations roles from a center in Chengdu, China over the next 18 months and shift jobs to India, Philippines and Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald reported, citing an email.

* The Reserve Bank of India decided to take out IDBI Bank Ltd. from its prompt corrective action framework, saying the bank had given a written commitment that it would comply with the norms of minimum regulatory capital, net nonperforming assets and leverage ratio on an ongoing basis.

➤ Australian buy-now-pay-later industry may need regulation to inspire confidence

Buy-now-pay-later players have so far avoided regulation as provisions of the Australian National Consumer Credit Protection Act of 2009 do not apply to certain types of loans, including interest-free credit for a short term.

➤ $1.9 trillion pandemic relief a temporary boost as economy awaits full recovery

The American Rescue Plan will provide broad support to the U.S. economy, benefit parts of the healthcare industry, hold up bank credit quality and boost online spending.

BANKING

* Asian Development Bank issued 2 billion yuan of panda bonds with a 3.2% coupon in China's interbank bond market, the China Securities Journal reported. The bonds were 1.86× oversubscribed. Bank of China Ltd. acted as the main underwriter and lead bookrunner for the issuance.

* U.S.-based BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in South Korea's KB Financial Group Inc. to 6.02% from 5.01% in May 2014, by buying shares worth 314.8 billion won in total, The Korea Herald reported.

* South Korea's Shinhan Financial Group Co. Ltd. issued hybrid bonds worth 600 billion won under Basel III guidelines in 5-year and 10-year call options, the Chosun Ilbo reported, citing the holdings company.

* South Korea's Shinhan Financial Group Co. Ltd. will end both indirect and direct finance to coal businesses by halting all coal infrastructure project financing as well as purchasing coal-related bonds, Chosun Ilbo reported.

* Hana Financial Group Inc. will halt investing and financing the construction of coal power plants as well as acquiring related bonds as part of plans to become carbon neutral by 2050, The Korea Times reported.

* Thailand's Government Housing Bank aims to cut the number of over-the-counter transactions at its branches to 10% of total transactions in 2021 and 5% in 2022 as part of a plan to offer fully digital banking services by 2023, Krungthep Turakij reported, citing Chatchai Sirilai, president of the firm.

* Indonesian state lender PT Bank Tabungan Negara (Persero) Tbk appointed Haru Koesmahargyo CEO during a shareholders meeting, Bisnis Indonesia reported. Koesmahargyo previously acted as finance director of PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) Tbk.

* PT Bank Permata Tbk plans to raise up to 11 trillion Indonesian rupiah through a rights issue of 88 million B shares worth 125 rupiah each to beef up capital, Bisnis Indonesia reported.

* Development Bank of the Philippines sold 10-year global bonds worth $300 million to refinance debt obligations that are set to mature March 25.

* Commonwealth Bank of Australia issued $1.5 billion of 2.688% subordinated notes due 2031 and $1.25 billion of 3.305% subordinated notes due 2041. The subordinated notes will exchange into fully paid ordinary shares of the Australian lender if a nonviability trigger event happens.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

* China-based Guotai Junan Securities Co. Ltd. won approval from China Securities Regulatory Commission to sell up to 50 billion yuan of corporate bonds in batches, offering the first batch within a year and the rest within two years, Caixin reported.

* Kathy Liu, a former managing director at CLSA Ltd. alleged in a letter to Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission that the firm misled investors, failed to disclose conflicts of interest and struck a side deal with CEFC China Energy Co. Ltd. that disadvantaged bondholders, Bloomberg News reported.

* India-based payments firm BharatPe expanded its financial technology services to 100 cities across the country with plans to cover 300 cities by 2023, Mint reported. The firm recently closed a $108 million Series D funding round.

POLICY AND REGULATION

* The Bank of Thailand issued new guidelines on the calculation of default interest charges to ensure fairness for debtors and prevent nonperforming loans, Krungthep Turakij reported. The new guidelines will take effect July 1.

Click here for a summary of indexes on the MI platform.

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

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