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.
Singapore digital license race
* China's Ant Financial Services Group has applied for a digital wholesale banking license in Singapore, Reuters reported, citing an emailed statement from the company.
* Singapore-based ride-sharing company Grab Holdings Inc. and telecommunications firm Singtel are collaborating to apply for a digital full-banking license in Singapore.
* Meanwhile, a joint venture among Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. Ltd., Validus Capital Pte. Ltd., Keppel Corp. Ltd. and Vertex Ventures decided not to apply for a digital wholesale banking license in Singapore, The Business Times reported.
The deadline to submit applications for digital bank licenses in the city-state was Dec. 30, 2019.
MUFG Bank warns of profit hit; Anbang Insurance looks to shed more assets
* Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. unit MUFG Bank Ltd. said it expects to record a one-off impairment loss of about ¥207.4 billion for the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2019, due to a drop in the share price of its 94.1%-owned PT Bank Danamon Indonesia Tbk. The one-off charge will not affect Mitsubishi UFJ Financial's target of ¥900 billion in profits attributable to owners of parent for the fiscal year ending March 31.
* Anbang Insurance Group Co. Ltd. is planning to sell its 35% stake in Chengdu Rural Commercial Bank Co. Ltd., Reuters reported, citing a filing to the Beijing Financial Assets Exchange. The insurer could fetch about 16.5 billion yuan from the sale of 3.5 billion Chengdu Rural shares.
Capital injections, debt issues
* India's government will inject a total of 86.55 billion rupees into Indian Overseas Bank, Allahabad Bank and UCO Bank.
* China's Bank of Nanjing Co. Ltd. issued 5 billion yuan of notes to boost its Tier 2 capital.
In other news
* The People's Bank of China kicked off 2020 by further lowering the reserve requirement ratio for banks by 50 basis points, effective Jan. 6, Reuters reported. The move will release about 800 billion yuan of liquidity into the economy, with small and medium-sized banks receiving around 120 billion yuan.
* State Bank of India may float a distressed asset fund in 2020, the size of which could be as much as US$2 billion, Business Standard reported, citing SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar.
* Troubled Bank of Jinzhou Co. Ltd. said it is considering a reorganization plan, which may include increasing share capital, to improve its capital adequacy, asset quality and corporate governance.
* India-based Axis Bank Ltd. and ICICI Bank Ltd. gained approval from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to shut down their operations in the country, Mint reported, citing online news portal ColomboPage.
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