TOP NEWS IN BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES
* United Overseas Bank Ltd.'s head of human resources, Dean Tong, said he expects the lender to hire between 1,500 and 2,000 people in Singapore in 2021 after it withdrew an earlier freeze on hiring implemented in the wake of the pandemic, The Business Times reported.
* Australia-based AMP Ltd. agreed to sell AMP Capital's global companies capability business, which has assets under management of over $500 million, to Canada-based Fiera Capital Corp.
➤ India banks need to account for climate risk with $84B at stake, warns nonprofit
India is the only major global economy that has yet to announce a target for net-zero emissions after China last year announced its plan to go carbon neutral by 2060.
➤ Climbing expenses, slow revenue growth continue to challenge efficiency ratios
The aggregate efficiency ratio for U.S. banks as of Dec. 31, 2020, was 61.4%, up from 59.3% in the fourth quarter of 2019 and 56.9% in the same period for 2018. Increasing expenses and challenged revenue growth have contributed to the deterioration.
BANKING
* Indonesia's PT Bank Permata Tbk saw its core capital increase to 41.8 trillion rupiah at the end of 2020 after the acquisition by Bangkok Bank PCL, bringing it into the BUKU IV category, Bisnis Indonesia reported. Permata also became the eighth largest bank by assets, totaling 197.66 trillion rupiah.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
* JD Technology, formerly known as JD Finance, the financial technology arm of Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com Inc., is likely to withdraw its IPO application from Shanghai's Star Market, as its business circumstances changed since the filing of the application, South China Morning Post reported.
* U.S.-based Cambridge Associates LLC said it would expand into Hong Kong and that it hired Edwina Ho as a senior director of business development for Asia based in the city to support its Asian client base. It also relocated its head of Global Private Client Practice Mary Pang to Asia.
* Simon Loong, founder and CEO of Hong Kong-based WeLab Holdings Ltd. said the firm would either expand its presence in Indonesia or enter new markets such as Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines as part of its strategic partnership with Allianz X, a unit of Allianz SE, The Nikkei reported.
* The Indonesia Stock Exchange will pass rules by July that would let companies go public using special purpose acquisition companies and issue dual-class shares, The Jakarta Post reported, citing the Indonesian bourse's development director Hasan Fawzi.
* India-based SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd. said its board will meet March 12 to consider raising 20 billion rupees through an issuance of nonconvertible debentures in one or more tranches over a period of time.
* Moelis Australia Ltd. is said to have hired Houlihan Lokey managing director and capital markets lead Matthew Tehan managing director in its investment banking team, focusing on private capital markets transactions in Australia, The Australian Financial Review's Street Talk blog reported.
* Vistra Group Holdings (BVI) Ltd. and Vistra Holdings (Australia) Pty. Ltd. will acquire 100% of the shares in Australia-based Mainstream Group Holdings Ltd. at A$1.20 per share by way of a scheme of arrangement.
POLICY AND REGULATION
* China will consider laws for a bankruptcy framework for financial institutions, Reuters reported, citing a report by the National People's Congress.
* South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service revealed its earnings estimate of the country's state and commercial banks of 2020, showing an 11.5% decrease in net profit to 12.3 trillion won from the previous year, Yonhap News Agency reported.
* South Korea's Financial Services Commission said nonholding financial groups with 5 trillion won or more in financial assets and over two financial arms would be subject to a law requiring them to receive board approval for intra-group transactions over 5 billion won, among other rules, starting June 30.
* The Thai government plans to launch a co-payment scheme for local small and midsize enterprises in a bid to reduce their costs relating to product testing, registration and standard certification, Daily News reported, citing government spokesperson Anucha Burapachaisri.
* India's Banks Board Bureau will select candidates for the posts of managing director and deputy managing directors of the proposed development financial institution National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development, Press Trust of India reported, citing sources.
* Australian regulators are said to be probing Credit Suisse Group AG's Australian business' balance sheet exposure to Greensill Capital Pty. Ltd. and its clients as well as its conflict management systems and due diligence practices, in the wake of Greensill's unraveling, The Australian Financial Review's Street Talk blog reported.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* Japan's ORIX Corp. has completed an acquisition of a 21.8% stake in India's renewable energy company, Greenko Emergy Holdings, Renewables Now reported. The shares in the Indian firm were purchased for around $961 million.
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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