* Takehiko Nakao resigned from his post as president of Asian Development Bank, with effect from Jan. 16, 2020, the Manila-based regional bank confirmed in a release. Nakao was appointed in April 2013 to take over the role from Haruhiko Kuroda, who was appointed governor of the Bank of Japan at the time.
GREATER CHINA
* Xishang Bank Co. Ltd. attracted investors after receiving approval from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission to start operations with a registered capital of 2 billion yuan. Suzhou Kelida Building & Decoration Co. Ltd. expressed interest in acquiring a 9.95% stake in the bank for 199 million yuan, while Hongdou Group and Jiangsu Hongdou Industrial Co. Ltd. plan to own 30% of the bank's shares.
* China Life Insurance Co. Ltd. plans to set up the first online life insurance company in China, the 21st Century Business Herald reported. There are currently four licensed online property insurance companies in the country.
* Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission fined Nan Shan Life Insurance Co. Ltd. NT$30 million for failing to resolve issues in its Envision Project IT system, Taipei Times reported. Chairman Du Ying-tzyong, who introduced the project in 2014, was suspended from the board for two years.
* Fitch Ratings assigned Taiwan-based Capital Securities Corp. a long-term issuer default rating of BBB- and national long- and short-term ratings of A(twn) and F1(twn), respectively. The outlook is stable.
JAPAN AND KOREA
* Japan's Tokio Marine Capital Co. Ltd. will initiate a management buyout at the end of September, The Nikkei reported. Under the plan, five managers will acquire 100% of the company's shares currently owned by parent Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co. Ltd..
* Japanese insurer Sompo Holdings Inc. expects subsidiary Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance Inc. to shell out more than ¥110 billion in insurance payout related to Typhoon Faxia that hit Tokyo earlier in September, The Nikkei reported.
* Moody's downgraded Samsung Securities Co. Ltd.'s foreign currency long-term issuer rating to Baa2 from Baa1, citing weakening funding and liquidity profile, but changed its outlook to stable from negative on stable profitability. The agency affirmed the company's foreign currency short-term issuer rating at P-2.
* South Korea-based Suhyup Bank launched Suhyup Microfinance Myanmar in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, its first microfinance finance institution in the country, FNTimes reported, citing the bank.
* A group of five investors are looking to file a lawsuit against KEB Hana Bank and Woori Bank for negligence over the "irresponsible marketing" of derivative-linked funds, The Korea Times reported, citing local rights group Financial Consumer Agency and legal firm Logos, which is facilitating the complaint. The investors expect to incur huge losses from the products.
ASEAN
* Thailand's Bank for Agriculture & Agricultural Co-operatives signed a banking agent agreement with Sabuy Technology PCL and Forth Smart Service PCL, operators of mobile credit top up machines, Post Today reported. The agreement will allow the bank's customers to deposit cash and buy savings certificates through the two companies' more than 180,000 machines nationwide.
* TISCO Bank PCL is collaborating with Thai Life Insurance PCL and Bangkok Life Assurance PCL to offer health insurance products to its customers, Daily News reported. Within the next three years, the bank hopes to increase its income ratio from health insurance to 20% from 10% at present.
* The Vietnamese government plans to provide definite roles to HANOI Stock Exchange and Hochiminh Stock Exchange following their planned consolidation, Viet Nam News reported, citing the finance ministry. The two exchanges will operate as sub-companies of Vietnam Securities Exchange. Under the plan, Hanoi Stock Exchange will focus on the derivatives and bond markets, while Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange will concentrate on the stock market.
SOUTH ASIA
* The board of Bajaj Finance Ltd. approved a plan to raise up to 85 billion rupees of capital by issuing equity shares via a qualified institutional placement, the company said in a stock exchange filing. The proposed placement is subject to shareholders' approval.
* Indian Overseas Bank will begin offering new mortgage, auto, educational and consumer retail loans with interest rates linked with the Reserve Bank of India's repo rate, with effect from Oct. 1, The Economic Times reported, citing a statement from the lender.
* The Reserve Bank of India released a discussion paper that details a proposal for the central bank to regulate payment gateways and aggregators directly. The authority plans to make changes to guidelines governing such firms, which would require them to comply with rules on minimum net worth and proper eligibility criteria for board members, among others.
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
* Authorised Investment Fund Ltd. will not proceed with its planned acquisition of a 30% stake in AAA Programmatic Pty Ltd. after failing to secure approval from the Australian government. The pooled development fund did not say why the government's Pooled Development Fund Board rejected its acquisition plan.
* The Reserve Bank of Australia will determine the significance of local and overseas developments tied to the country's economy, which include domestic labor market conditions as well as escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China, prior to further monetary policy easing, minutes of the regulator's Sept. 3 meeting showed.
* An internal analysis of salaries received by Westpac New Zealand Ltd. staff showed a 30.3% gender pay gap in the median hourly compensation between male and female employees, statistics released by the bank showed. The pay gap across the country's financial sector is currently at 23.7%, The New Zealand Herald reported.
* A poll of 12 economists by Reuters showed broad expectations that New Zealand's GDP would have grown 2% year over year in the quarter ended June, the lowest in six years. The country's central bank will likely make further key rate reductions despite an earlier rate cut in August in an effort to stimulate demand, said Dominick Stephens, Westpac Banking Corp.'s chief economist.
IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD
Middle East & Africa: StanChart to meet with Dubai regulators; CGD to sell stake in Cape Verde unit
Europe: StanChart to review 8,000 accounts; UniCredit lines up chairman candidates
Latin America: SoftBank ups Banco Inter stake; Galicia creating new finance firm
North America: Tennessee banks in deal; CFTC approves Volcker 2.0; SEC fines 2 broker/dealers
Global Insurance: JLT exec departures; CopperPoint deal; Humberto could become major hurricane
Janna Estares, Sally Wang, Sarun Saelee, Cathy Hwang, Emi White and Aditya Suharmoko contributed to this report.
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