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Ant Financial closes US$10B fundraising; China's Huifu to launch HK IPO in June

GREATER CHINA

* Ant Financial Services Group closed a US$10 billion fundraising round, appraising the Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. affiliate at US$150 billion, Reuters reported, citing five sources with direct knowledge of the matter. The funding round's major investors include Singapore's sovereign fund GIC Pvt. Ltd. and state investment firm Temasek Holdings (Pte.) Ltd., U.S.-based private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC, as well as Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd. The latest round also includes a separate tranche of about 7 billion yuan in new shares, which has yet to be finalized, two of the sources said.

* Shanghai-based payment service provider Huifu Payment is planning to raise approximately US$200 million through a Hong Kong IPO in June, the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong reported, citing sources close to the company. Huifu Payment, which was one of the first companies to receive a digital payment license from the People's Bank of China, will begin trading June 15, the sources said. The company's shares will open for subscription June 1.

* The China Securities Regulatory Commission gave a go-ahead to Bank of Changsha Co. Ltd. to launch an IPO, making it the first lender in the Hunan Province to be listed on one of China's stock exchanges, Sina Finance reported. Another 15 local banks are awaiting approval to launch an IPO.

* China's securities watchdog also approved Agricultural Bank of China Ltd.'s plan to raise up to 100 billion yuan through a private placement of A shares, or China-listed shares, the South China Morning Post reported, citing a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. In March, the lender's board resolved to issue up to 27,472,527,469 A shares to seven investors, including the country's finance ministry and Central Huijin Investment.

JAPAN AND KOREA

* Japan's Joyo Bank Ltd. formed a business tie-up with BizReach, a company specializing in the job market, for its business succession services, The Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun in the country reported. The companies aim to reach 50 M&A cases by March 2019.

* South Korean credit card companies decided to lodge complaints with the country's Fair Trade Commission against China Unionpay Co. Ltd. and U.S.-based Visa Inc. for unilaterally hiking foreign transaction fees, The Korea Times reported. The antitrust body is reviewing the case against Visa, and is set to release the results in June. Local credit card companies plan to file a similar case against UnionPay once the results come out.

* South Korea-based Korea Housing Finance Corp. will introduce a 500 billion-won mortgage-backed loan program for low- to mid-income households May 31, the country's Kookmin Ilbo reported. The new program comes as a follow-up on the Financial Services Commission's household debt stabilization plan in April, and aims to help borrowers facing delinquency due to high rates on previous loan programs.

ASEAN

* Singapore Exchange Ltd. postponed the launch of new India derivatives products after the Bombay High Court ordered the interim injunction filed by National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. to be settled through arbitration. Earlier in May, the Indian bourse sued to stop SGX from launching the products. A decision on the injunction is set to be made by June 16.

* The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas approved guidelines to implement the Net Stable Funding Ratio, which requires banks to hold sufficient liquidity buffers for a one-year period, BusinessWorld reported, citing Nestor Espenilla Jr., governor of the Philippine central bank. The new standard, which is one of the key reforms under the International Basel III framework, will be fully implemented by Jan. 1, 2019.

* Indonesian midsize lender PT Bank MNC Internasional Tbk said Benny Purnomo submitted his resignation as CEO, Bisnis Indonesia reported.

* Malaysia's CIMB Group Holdings Bhd. plans to spend 75 million ringgit in the next three years for its CIMB 3D Academy initiative to improve its workforce's digital knowledge and skills, the New Straits Times in Malaysia reported, citing group CEO Tengku Zafrul Aziz. The move is in line with plans to boost digital development in the bank.

SOUTH ASIA

* Indian payments technology solutions provider FINO PayTech Ltd. is in talks with Japan-based Credit Saison Co. Ltd. and Singapore's state investment firm Temasek Holdings to sell a significant minority stake in the company for nearly 12 billion rupees, Mint in India reported, citing two sources aware of the development. Nonbinding offers are expected to be lodged in the next few weeks, the sources said, adding that Credit Suisse was appointed to manage the transaction.

* U.S.-based social network company Facebook Inc. may roll out its WhatsApp Inc. payment services in India as early as the week of June 4, Bloomberg News reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. Facebook decided to launch the services with just three local partners — HDFC Bank Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd. and Axis Bank Ltd. — as State Bank of India has yet to have necessary systems in place, the sources said.

* India's Naffa Innovations Pvt. Ltd., which operates digital payments startup ToneTag, raised up to US$10 million from a number of strategic investors, including U.S.-based e-commerce firm Amazon.com Inc. and financial services company Mastercard Inc., Mint reported, citing three sources directly aware of the development. ToneTag is in discussions with other strategic investors, the sources said.

* India-based ICICI Bank named M. D. Mallya, former chairman and managing director of Bank of Baroda, an additional director of the company for a five-year term. Mallya's appointment took effect May 29.

* The Indian government expects state-run banks to be able to reduce bad loans by as much as 3 trillion rupees in fiscal 2018-19, mostly through debt resolution under the country's Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, The Economic Times in India reported. A finance ministry official said the government is not planning to inject capital in addition to the 1.53 trillion-rupee capital infusion program until the end of the fiscal year.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

* Australia-headquartered Goldfields Money Ltd. said it can now refer to itself as a bank following recent reforms to the country's banking laws. Authorized deposit-taking institutions, including Goldfields Money, are now allowed to use the word "bank" and related expressions without any restriction.

* U.S.-based JPMorgan Chase & Co. appointed Jim Miller a vice chairman of its Australian operations, The Australian reported, without citing a source. Miller was previously a senior banker at Macquarie Group Ltd.

* Australian Treasury Secretary John Fraser warned of a potential credit crunch stemming from the royal commission, an inquiry into the country's scandal-ridden financial sector, The Australian reported. At the hearing, Fraser also called on local banks to undertake a "proper review of their lending standards," as he dismissed arguments that higher standards were not compatible with competitive banking.

* The Reserve Bank of New Zealand said the country's major banks should implement the regulator's new outsourcing policy to avoid a system failure similar to that at Bank of New Zealand, Interest.co.nz reported. On May 26, the company's banking, EFTPOS and ATM services were affected after an outage at parent National Australia Bank Ltd. in Melbourne. Banks are required to comply with the new policy by September 2022, which would allow them to switch their systems to a backup option that does not rely on a related party capability.

IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

Middle East & Africa: Kenya, Tunisia hold rates; First International Bank of Israel posts Q1 profit

Europe: UK readying RBS stake sale; Italian bank stocks fall amid political turmoil

Latin America: Brazil currency, stocks drop amid strike; ILC's Q1 profit rises 7.8%

North America: Scotiabank fiscal Q2 profit up; customer data breach at 2 Canadian banks

North America Insurance: Proxy advisers split on AmTrust deal; reinsurance M&A may pick up again

Janna Estares, Sally Wang, Sarun Saelee, Cathy Hwang, Emi White and Aditya Suharmoko contributed to this report.

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