GREATER CHINA

* The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission's Beijing branch issued a notice asking banks to refrain from acquiring clients from Baoshang Bank Co. Ltd., following a takeover initiated by the regulator, Reuters reported, citing two banking sources.

* The outstanding nonperforming loans of Bank of Hebei Co. Ltd. surged 76% year over year to 4.71 billion yuan as of the end of 2018, while the bank's nonperforming loan ratio stood at 2.53%, Changjiang Times reported. Meanwhile, the lender's net profit declined 25.6% year over year to 2 billion yuan.

* The People's Bank of China conducted 80 billion yuan of seven-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 2.55% on May 27.

* China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co. Ltd. approved the appointments of Kong Qingwei as director of CPIC Life Insurance Co. Ltd. and Pan Yanhong as the life insurer's general manager.

JAPAN AND KOREA

* Japan Bank for International Cooperation said it signed an agreement with Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank to provide a credit line up to US$350 million for loans to 22 Sub-Saharan and African countries. The move is aimed at supporting local industrial development, with JBIC providing a total of US$210 million in credit line.

* Japanese investment fund Polaris Capital Group Co. Ltd. will be forming a ¥150 billion fund by the end of 2019, Tokyo's The Nikkei reported. The company is looking to provide support for disinvestments and business successions. The company has so far formed four funds since 2004, and has invested a total of ¥200 billion.

* South Korea's Shinhan Bank Co. Ltd. said it has successfully developed the country's first system to evaluate a customer's capacity to borrow based on blockchain technology, which would make the loan issuance process more efficient, the Maeil Business Newspaper reported.

ASEAN

* CIMB Thai Bank PCL's board of directors agreed to extend Kittiphun Anutarasoti's voluntary leave of absence until further notice, while Adisorn Sermchaiwong will continue to serve as the bank's acting president and CEO, pending approval from the Bank of Thailand, Krungthep Turakij reported.

* Thailand-based Thanachart Bank PCL is looking to extend 190 billion baht in auto loans in 2019, bringing the value of its outstanding auto loans to 450 billion baht by the end of the year, Manager Daily reported, citing Pompet Rasanon, the bank's executive vice president. So far, the bank has approved about 40 billion baht of new loans in the four months ended April, Pompet said.

* Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry & Trade obtained approval from the Vietnamese central bank to issue 10 trillion dong of bonds, Viet Nam News reported.

* The Indonesian Central Securities Depository has approved the appointment of its new CEO, Uriep Budhi Prasetyo, for a four-year period. He is set to replace Friderica Widyasari Dewi in the role.

SOUTH ASIA

* The Central Information Commission of India has asked the Reserve Bank of India to reveal the names of big loan defaulters that it had sent to banks for resolution, Press Trust of India reported.

* India's Ministry of Finance is considering launching a diversified exchange-traded fund by adding the stocks of public sector banks and other financial institutions, CNBCTV18 reported.

* The Reserve Bank of India's new rules requiring nonbanking financial companies to introduce liquidity buffers may limit their ability to extend short-term loans and trigger consolidation among weaker nonbanking firms, Mint reported, citing analysts.

* Varadaraja Iyer M resigned as an additional director of India's Dhanlaxmi Bank Ltd., effective May 25, due to personal reasons.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

* Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. will redeem A$750 million worth of subordinated notes June 25.

* Commonwealth Bank of Australia CEO Matt Comyn pledged to restore community trust by fixing mistakes faster and overhauling the customer experience of its banking operations by slashing fees, The Australian Financial Review reported.

IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

Middle East & Africa: Old Mutual CEO exits; Ghana's GCB to start i-bank unit; Angola cuts key rate

Europe: UK PM confirms resignation; EU election results; Groupe BPCE gets new chair

Latin America: Cielo cancels guidance, cuts dividend payout; BancoEstado's profit falls

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

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