TOP NEWS IN BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES
* Indian Financial Services Secretary Debasish Panda said public sector banks are expected to raise about 80 billion rupees to 100 billion rupees in the remaining part of the current financial year, Press Trust of India reported.
* Malaysia-based RHB Bank Bhd. named Khazanah Nasional's executive director of investments Nik Rizal Kamil bin Nik Ibrahim Kamil its group CFO, succeeding Syed Ahmad Taufik Albar, who was appointed its head of group international business, effective Feb. 2.
➤ China bank loan growth set to slow further on tapering stimulus, lending curbs
Chinese banks are likely to see credit growth to continue slowing in 2021, as the government steps up measures to rein in mortgage lending and consumer loans and may at some point start to wind down COVID-19 stimulus measures, analysts say.
➤ US corporate bankruptcy count rises in January as pandemic rages on
A total of 45 companies have declared bankruptcy so far this year, with the largest share coming from the consumer discretionary category.
EARNINGS SPOTLIGHT
* Japan-based Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. said its consolidated net income attributable to owners fell 29% for the nine months ended Dec. 31, 2020 to ¥433.93 billion from ¥610.83 billion in the prior-year period. Ordinary profit fell to ¥594.88 billion from ¥811.83 billion.
BANKING
* Yoon Ho-young, CEO of South Korea's KakaoBank of Korea Corp., said the lender lowered the credit loan limits for high credit users to 100 million won from 150 million won in January and that it would develop a credit scoring system for low- and mid-credit borrowers, The Korea Herald reported.
* Indonesian state lender PT Bank Tabungan Negara (Persero) Tbk's acting CEO, Nixon LP Napitupulu, said the bank booked 1.6 trillion rupiah in net profit in 2020, or 6.7× higher than 2019, Bisnis Indonesia reported.
* PT Bank Harda Internasional Tbk shareholders approved the takeover of 73.71% shares in the bank by PT Mega Corpora, Bisnis Indonesia reported. Bank Harda also appointed Yohanes CEO and Arief Tendeas and Ari Yanuanto Asah directors.
* India-based Canara Bank raised 1.2 billion rupees by issuing and allotting Basel III-compliant Additional Tier 1 Bonds.
* Australia-based SocietyOne Australia Pty. Ltd. CEO Mark Jones said the digital lender would seek to raise around A$50 million in capital over the next 12 to 18 months to grow its business and that it would consider a possible IPO later in the year, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
* Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., Bendigo & Adelaide Bank Ltd., Bank of Queensland Ltd. and a private equity consortium led by former Tyro Payments Ltd. CEO Gerd Schenkel are said to be vying to bid for Australia's Members Equity Bank Ltd., The Australian reported.
* Commonwealth Bank of Australia said the divestment of its stake in BoCommLife Insurance Co. Ltd. will result in an increase of its common equity tier 1 ratio of 17 basis points. It added that it created the major client group unit within its business banking division.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
* Samuel Chan resigned from his position as the head of debt syndicate at Hong Kong's CLSA Ltd. and is leaving the firm, Bloomberg News reported, citing sources.
* South Korea's Hyundai Capital Services Inc. issued 5-year green bonds worth $600 million, Yonhap News Agency reported. The firm said it received interest from about 250 institutional investors and that the bonds were about 8x oversubscribed.
* Singapore Exchange Ltd. issued €240 million of three-year zero-coupon convertible bonds due 2024 and said that the offer was more than 4× oversubscribed. The proceeds will be used to refinance existing debt and for general corporate purposes for the Singapore bourse.
* The board of India-based Housing Development Finance Corp. Ltd. approved the issuance of redeemable nonconvertible debentures in various tranches on a private placement basis worth 450 billion rupees in aggregate.
* Australia's MST Financial hired Citigroup Inc.'s head of sales trading in Australia Alan Tam, The Australian Financial Review's Street Talk blog reported.
POLICY AND REGULATION
* A People's intermediate court in China's Jilin province sentenced Yang Shengzhong, former president of Bank of Jilin Co. Ltd., to 20 years in prison for corruption and taking bribes, Caijing reported.
* Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission fined Citibank Taiwan Ltd. NT$6 million for inaccurately reporting consumer data to the Joint Credit Information Center, which could lead to some of its clients being charged excessive interest rates on credit card borrowings, Taipei Times reported. The bank has sent the incorrect data to the center since December 2010 and 180,281 clients were affected.
* Leong Sing Chiong, a deputy managing director at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said the swap offer rate would be discontinued in 2023 if the cessation of the London Interbank Offered Rate is pushed to 2023 as proposed, The Business Times reported. The steering committee overseeing the industry transition to the Singapore Overnight Rate Average will set out guidance on halting the use of SOR in new derivatives contracts, as well as to stop the use of the Singapore Interbank Offered Rate in new loan contracts in the coming months.
* Indian Financial Services Secretary Debasish Panda said Indian Overseas Bank, Central Bank of India and UCO Bank are likely to come out of the Reserve Bank of India's prompt corrective action framework before the close of the current financial year, Press Trust of India reported.
* Indian Financial Services Secretary Debasish Panda also said India Infrastructure Finance Co. Ltd. could be merged into the proposed new Development Finance Institution with an initial capital of 200 billion rupees, Press Trust of India reported. He added that the Indian government's stake in the company would be gradually lowered to 26%.
MARKET SNAPSHOT
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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