S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of banking news stories and more published throughout the week. Please note that some entries may have links to third-party sources that require a subscription.
Central bank actions, regulatory policies and more
* New Zealand's central bank is proceeding with the plan to impose a 10% limit on lending that banks can do above an 80% loan-to-value ratio.
* The Bank of Japan maintained its target for short-term interest rates at negative 0.1% and its target for the 10-year Japanese government bond yield at around 0%.
* The central bank of Bangladesh issued guidelines on nonbanking assets, providing clarity on lenders' authority to seize assets put up as collateral after borrowers default, Dhaka Tribune reported.
* The Philippines' central bank issued a governance policy for the country's payment system operators that are in line with international standards.
* The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission updated its supervisory rules for commercial banks, including boosting oversight on corporate governance and data security.
* Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. started a consultation on proposed rules for special purpose acquisition companies to list in the city, seeking to catch up with peers in the region.
* Laos allowed six companies, including a bank, to begin mining and trading cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin, the Financial Times of London reported.
* South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service is planning to appeal a court ruling that revoked the regulator's reprimand on Woori Financial Group Inc. Chairman Sohn Tae-seung for misselling high-risk funds, The Korea Herald reported.
* Commonwealth Bank of Australia will plead guilty to charges filed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission against it for misselling consumer insurance products between 2011 and 2015.
* Japan's Financial Services Agency issued a business improvement order to Mizuho Bank Ltd. and said it will review improvements to the bank's computer system following the recent series of IT system glitches.
Deals and other transactions
* Taiwan's Fubon Financial Holding Co. Ltd. agreed to merge with JihSun Financial Holding Co. Ltd. through a cash merger, subject to necessary approvals.
* Westpac Banking Corp. has terminated all agreements in relation to the A$420 million divestment of its Pacific businesses to Kina Securities Ltd.
* Australia's Zip Co Ltd. agreed to acquire a minority stake in Indian buy-now, pay-later operator ZestMoney.
* Canada-based Fairfax India Holdings Corp. has completed the sale of an approximately 11.5% stake in its Indian unit, Anchorage Infrastructure Investments Holdings Ltd., for 9.5 billion rupees.
* India's Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. agreed to acquire a 9.98% stake in KFin Technologies Pvt. Ltd. for around 3.1 billion rupees, subject to customary closing conditions.
In other news
* PayMaya Philippines Inc. was granted a digital banking license by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, becoming the sixth entity in the country to acquire the license.
* Malaysia's CIMB Group Holdings Bhd. increased its commitment to sustainable finance to 30 billion ringgit after hitting its 10 billion target ahead of schedule in 2021.
* United Overseas Bank Ltd. injected two trillion dong of capital to United Overseas Bank (Vietnam) Ltd. as it looks to deepen its presence in the country.
* The Indian government is setting up an asset management company that will work alongside National Asset Reconstruction Co. Ltd. to manage bad loans, Mint reported.
* Ant Group Co. Ltd.'s microlending platform, Huabei, will share users' credit information with the People's Bank of China in the same way as banks.
* The Siam Commercial Bank PCL will set up SCBX PCL through a 1:1 share swap. SCBX will replace the bank as the listed entity on the Thai bourse as part of the bank's restructuring plan.
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