TOP NEWS IN BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES
* The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said in a release it is planning a pilot project that will test the use of a wholesale central bank digital currency, or CBDC, for large-value financial transactions in the Philippines.
* Australia-based AMP Ltd. agreed to sell Collimate Capital's real estate and domestic infrastructure equity business to real estate and asset management group Dexus Funds Management Ltd. for an upfront cash consideration of A$250 million.
➤ Hong Kong Exchanges flags challenging macro backdrop after earnings slump
The stock exchange operator posted a 31% year-over-year decline in profit in the first quarter, the biggest drop since 2016.
➤ Consumer agency director sheds more light on examinations of nonbanks
In an appearance before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra went into more detail on the agency's plan to examine nonbanks under a rarely used authority granted by Congress.
READ MORE about the market reaction and industry impact of the evolving situation in Russia and Ukraine in our new Issue in Focus.
EARNINGS SPOTLIGHT
* China Everbright Bank Co. Ltd.'s net profit attributable to shareholders grew 1.98% year over year to 11.75 billion yuan in the first quarter of 2022. The Chinese bank's nonperforming loans ratio stood at 1.24%, down 1 basis point from the end of the prior year.
* Thailand-based The Siam Commercial Bank PCL reported a consolidated net profit of 10.2 billion baht for the first quarter, up 1% year over year on the back of higher net interest income and lower provisions.
* Indonesia's PT Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk reported a consolidated profit after tax and minority interest of 10.032 trillion rupiah for the first quarter, up 69.52% from 5.918 trillion rupiah in the prior year. Provision expenses for the quarter fell by 25.98% to 4.002 trillion rupiah.
BANKING
* The Shizuoka Bank Ltd. and The Bank of Nagoya Ltd. agreed to form a business alliance to boost earnings capacity amid increased competition among lenders in the Chubu region in central Japan, Jiji Press reported.
* The Bank of Thailand said in a release its board appointed Roong Mallikamas deputy governor of corporate development, effective Oct. 1.
* PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) Tbk is considering to invest in startups in the financial, health and education sectors, Corporate Secretary Aestika Oryza Gunarto told Bisnis Indonesia.
* The Indian cabinet approved 8.2 billion rupees of financial support for India Post Payments Bank Ltd., Press Trust of India reported, citing a source.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
* China's asset management market scale rose 11% year over year to 134 trillion yuan at the end of 2021, marking the first double-digit growth since the release of a new regulatory framework in 2018, Caixin reported, citing a report jointly issued by the Boston Consulting Group and Everbright Bank Wealth Management Co. Ltd.
* Ha Yung-ku, former president of Citibank Korea Inc., was appointed chairman of Blackstone Korea, The Korea Times reported, citing a company statement.
* NH Investment & Securities Co. Ltd. incorporated an office in London to oversee its entire operations in Europe, The Korea Herald reported, citing President and CEO Jeong Young-chae. The new office, NH Investment and Securities Europe, will gradually offer brokering deals involving stocks and bonds as well as funds and investments involving real estate and infrastructure.
POLICY AND REGULATION
* The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is seeking public feedback on a discussion paper on the key policy and design issues of introducing a retail central bank digital currency. The paper examined the potential benefits and challenges as well as considerations including issuance mechanism, interoperability with other payment systems, and privacy and data protection.
* Guangzhou Municipal Local Financial Supervision and Administration said in a release it plans to set up a Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area wealth and asset management center to support the Guangzhou asset management corridor and better serve the cross-border financing business in the bay area.
* The Bank of Japan is expected to maintain its ultraloose monetary policy as it sees the recent pickup in inflation as transitory, The Mainichi Shimbun reported. The central bank is likely to set short-term interest rates at negative 0.1%, while guiding 10-year Japanese government bond yields to almost 0%.
* The Thai Finance Ministry cut its 2022 GDP growth forecast to 3.5% from 4% due to the effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on key trading partners, energy prices and inflation, Krungthep Turakij reported, citing Pornchai Theeravech, director of the Fiscal Policy Office.
* Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said firms seeking to acquire digital payment token licenses are expected to conduct proper customer due diligence for all digital payment transactions to mitigate risks, The Straits Times reported, citing an interview with the executive at a digital assets summit.
* Bangladesh Bank instructed banks to increase the working capital credit limit to maintain the productivity and momentum of the country's economic activities, The Financial Express reported, citing a central bank circular.
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As of April 27, US$1 was equivalent to 6.56 Chinese yuan, 34.39 Thai baht, 14,433 Indonesian rupiah and 76.61 Indian rupees.
Eden Estopace, Sally Wang, Sarun Saelee, Cathy Hwang, Emi White and Aditya Suharmoko contributed to this report.
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