UniCredit to scale back Asia presence; India OKs Radiant Cash Management's IPO

TOP NEWS IN BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES

* Italy-based UniCredit SpA will stop providing basic banking services to Asia-Pacific units of its European clients, Reuters reported. The lender will close its offices in Tokyo, Shanghai and Singapore as well as its representative offices in Seoul, Hanoi and Mumbai.

* The Securities and Exchange Board of India approved Radiant Cash Management Services Ltd.'s IPO, under which the company plans to issue up to 600 million rupees of new shares, Mint reported. Existing shareholders may sell up to 30,130,000 equity shares.

➤ Almost half of 20 largest Asia-Pacific banks see market cap declines in Q4

In total, nine of the 20 banks in Asia logged declines in market capitalization in the quarter, led by Australia's Westpac Banking Corp., according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

➤ With rate hikes near, the Fed has a $9 trillion balance sheet problem

U.S. Federal Reserve officials are putting together plans to start reducing the central bank's record-breaking balance sheet years ahead of expectations, partly to offset Main Street impacts of pending rate hikes.

BANKING

* China Everbright Bank Co. Ltd. saw its net profit for 2021 climb 14.73% to 43.41 billion yuan, from 37.84 billion yuan in the previous year. The Chinese lender's operating profit rose 7.14% year over year to 152.75 billion yuan from 142.57 billion yuan.

* Indonesia's PT Bank Neo Commerce Tbk plans to raise around 5 trillion rupiah via a rights issue in the first quarter, Bisnis Indonesia reported.

* Citigroup Inc. hired 5,500 employees for its Asia businesses over the last two years, as it looks to hire 6,000 by 2023, Bloomberg News reported. About 58% of the hires were women.

* ING Groep NV named Lenin Duenas head of diversified corporates and financial institutions at the Philippines' ING Bank NV - Manila Branch, The Philippine Star reported.

* Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. plans to issue fixed-rate peso sustainability bonds and raise at least 3 billion pesos. The lender will use the proceeds to support asset growth, refinance maturing liabilities and for general funding purposes.

* India-based Small Industries Development Bank of India sanctioned 6.5 billion rupees of financial assistance for AU Small Finance Bank Ltd. and Jana Small Finance Bank Ltd. to reach out to small nonbanking financial companies and microfinance institutions, Mint reported.

* IndusInd Bank Ltd. sold 25.52 billion rupees of distressed loans to Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Co. and 15 billion rupees of distressed loans to Omkara Asset Reconstruction Co. in pools comprising retail and corporate loans in the last three quarters, The Economic Times reported, citing two sources.

* Australia's Westpac Banking Corp. priced A$1.9 billion of new five-year floating-rate notes and A$850 million of fixed-rate notes, The Australian Financial Review's Street Talk blog reported.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

* CITIC Securities Co. Ltd. said it plans to raise up to 28 billion yuan of A-shares at a placement price of 14.43 yuan per share. The Chinese company will use the proceeds for the development of intermediary business, subsidiaries investment and business operations.

* Lime Asset Management Co. Ltd., the South Korean asset management firm behind a 1.7 trillion won fund fraud scandal, filed for bankruptcy with the Seoul Bankruptcy Court Jan. 7, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing legal sources. The first court hearing will be held Jan. 25.

* South Korea's Hyundai Capital Co. Ltd. launched Hyundai Capital France, a joint venture in France with Société Générale SA's CGI Finance unit. The new company is Hyundai Capital's fifth auto finance unit in Europe.

* The operator of Singapore's Bitcoin Exchange has removed two cryptocurrency ATMs from public spaces after the Monetary Authority of Singapore published new guidelines for cryptocurrency service providers, The Straits Times reported.

* India's Lendingkart Technologies Pvt. Ltd. and Canara Bank entered into a co-lending partnership to provide low-cost business loans to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, Mint reported.

* Shriram Transport Finance Co. Ltd. completed the issuance and allotment of $475 million 4.15% senior secured notes due in 2025.

* Australia's Grow Finance closed a A$35 million equity round led by Japan's Nomura Holdings Inc. and a A$450 million warehouse facility, The Australian Financial Review reported.

* E&P Financial Group Ltd.'s Dixon Advisory and Superannuation Services Pty. Ltd. unit appointed PwC Partners, Stephen Longley and Craig Crosbie voluntary administrators. The firm's directors determined that mounting actual and potential liabilities means it is likely to become insolvent at some point in the future.

POLICY AND REGULATION

* The People's Bank of China is said to have released its first batch of carbon emission reduction support funds amounting to 85.5 billion yuan to the market, while Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. received 11.37 billion yuan, or about 13% of the funds, Shanghai Securities News reported.

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

As of Jan. 18, US$1 was equivalent to 6.35 Chinese yuan, 1,193.10 South Korean won, 14,346 Indonesian rupiah, 51.56 Philippine pesos and 74.58 Indian rupees.

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

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