S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of banking news stories and more published throughout the week. Please note that some entries may have links to third-party sources that require a subscription.
IPO corner
* China Bohai Bank Co. Ltd. plans to raise more than US$2 billion through an IPO in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post reported, citing people familiar with the matter. China Bohai Bank will work with ABC International Holdings, CCB International (Holdings), CLSA and Haitong International Securities on the offering, sources said, adding that the bank will likely list in the second half of 2020.
* India-based housing finance company Home First Finance Co. India Pvt. Ltd. is seeking to raise 15 billion rupees in an IPO, Moneycontrol reported. The company will offer 4 billion rupees worth of new shares, and 11 billion rupees worth of existing shares off-loaded by promoters and investors.
* Australia's Tyro Payments Ltd. priced its IPO at A$2.75 per share, the top end of its indicative price range, ahead of a listing on the Australian Securities Exchange on Dec. 6. The payments processing company had set the IPO price range at between A$2.50 per share and A$2.75 per share.
* The National Bank of Cambodia approved ACLEDA Bank PLC's plan to proceed with its planned IPO. The move will make ACLEDA Bank the first commercial bank in Cambodia to list its shares on the Cambodia Securities Exchange.
Central bank activities
* The Reserve Bank of India maintained its policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility at 5.15% in an effort to revive growth. The central bank also kept the reverse repo rate unchanged at 4.90% and the marginal standing facility and bank rates at 5.40%.
* The Reserve Bank of Australia left the cash rate unchanged at 0.75% at its final meeting of 2019, while keeping the door open to further easing.
* The Reserve Bank of New Zealand imposed higher capital requirements for local banks following a comprehensive review of its capital framework for lenders. The country's four largest banks by total assets will need to have total capital equal to 18% or risk-weighted assets, while the remaining smaller banks will need to have total capital equal to 16% of risk-weighted assets.
In other news
* TMB Bank PCL completed the acquisition of a 99.96% stake in Thanachart Bank PCL from Thanachart Capital PCL and Bank of Nova Scotia. The Thai lender is now offering to purchase the remaining shares in Thanachart Bank it does not yet own from other minority shareholders.
* RHB Bank Bhd.'s unit, RHB Hong Kong Ltd., and its subsidiaries decided to discontinue operations in Hong Kong. The Malaysian lender said it is no longer viable to operate in the city-state amid the increasingly challenging operating broking environment.
* Australia's iSignthis Ltd. commenced legal proceedings against ASX Ltd., operator of the Australian stock exchange, challenging the regulator's decisions to suspend the financial technology company's shares from the exchange. ISignthis also alleged, among other things, that the confidential information it provided to ASX during its inquiry had been leaked to short sellers.
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