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Axa mulls sale of Malaysian JVs; China opens interbank FX market to 3 brokerages

GREATER CHINA

* China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange approved CITIC Securities Company Ltd., Huatai Securities Co. Ltd. and China Merchants Securities Co. Ltd. to carry out spot foreign exchange settlement and sales under the premise of controllable risks and to faciliate interbank forex market transactions.

* Cheng Yong Hong succeeded Zhang Ke as party secretary and general manager of Taiping Life Insurance Co. Ltd., Shanghai Securities News reported. Zhang will move on to China Taiping Insurance Holdings Co. Ltd. but will continue to serve as vice chairman of Taiping Life Insurance.

* Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. completed the issuance of 35 billion yuan of perpetual bonds with an interest rate of 4.2% per annum, Yicai reported. The financing round also marks the completion of the bank's 120 billion yuan perpetual bond issuance.

* Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. will resume trading of its derivatives market Sept. 6 following a detailed investigation into software issues that caused connectivity issues the previous day. Derivatives market trading was suspended for the afternoon and after-hour sessions Sept. 5.

JAPAN AND KOREA

* Japan's Financial Services Agency plans to develop rules governing blockchain technology to better regulate the growing market for so-called crypto assets, Tokyo's The Nikkei reported.

* Woori Financial Group Inc. signed an agreement with the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry to support South Korean companies moving into Myanmar.

* South Korea's Financial Services Commission said it plans to change the country's consumer credit ratings system throughout the financial services industry to a scoring system by 2020 from the current grading system. The new system will assign scores of 1 to 1,000 to financial consumers.

ASEAN

* Axa SA and Kuala Lumpur-based Affin Bank Bhd. are considering a potential sale as one of the options for their AXA Affin General Insurance Bhd. and AXA AFFIN Life Insurance Berhad businesses in Malaysia, Bloomberg News reported. People with knowledge of the matter said off-loading the business could fetch around US$650 million.

* Charles Schwab Singapore Pte. Ltd., a unit of U.S. brokerage Charles Schwab Corp., will no longer provide services and close its office in the city-state, it said on its website. Charles Schwab Singapore began operations in November 2017.

* The Thai Chamber of Commerce and Export-Import Bank of Thailand signed an agreement to facilitate Thai entrepreneurs in their overseas trade and investment activities, Krungthep Turakij reported. Members of the chamber may get loans with lower interest and small and midsize enterprises can get discounted rates on insurance premiums.

* The Thai Bankers Association will ask the central bank to extend the validity of magnetic-stripe ATM and debit cards to Jan. 15, 2020, Bangkok Post reported. The Bank of Thailand previously directed banks to cancel magnetic-stripe cards by Dec. 31, 2019, and replace them with chip-embedded technology with enhanced security.

SOUTH ASIA

* Punjab National Bank said its board approved the bank's merger with Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India. The board similarly approved a capital infusion from the government of up to 180 billion rupees through the preferential allotment of equity shares.

* India's banks are unlikely to pass on lower interest rates to consumers anytime soon despite the central bank's mandate to link new floating rate retail loans to external benchmarks, Reuters reported, citing bankers and analysts. Bankers requesting anonymity told the newswire that lenders will not lower rates overnight to protect their margins and manage their cost of funds.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

* AMP Ltd. has begun canceling the licenses of some 1,500 aligned financial advisers as it seeks to rebuild its business model after an industry-wide inquiry found that it wrongfully charged fees to clients, Reuters reported, citing an internal email from Alex Wade, AMP's head of wealth management. The message, which was confirmed by an AMP spokesperson, notified advisers that the cancellation was due to them not meeting new regulations on abolishing commissions and increasing compliance.

* Meanwhile, AMP Capital's assets under management now stands at A$200 billion, helped by growth in real assets, such as infrastructure, The Australian Financial Review reported, citing AMP Capital CEO Adam Tindall. The fund management arm of AMP accounted for 35% of the group's first-half earnings.

* New Zealand's Commerce Commission filed a case against UDC Finance Ltd. for allegedly charging unreasonable default fees to customers. The commission is asking the high court to declare that UDC Finance breached a credit consumer act and that it must refund affected customers.

IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

Middle East & Africa: BlackRock opens Saudi office; KCB sets National Bank of Kenya takeover in motion

Europe: Danske reshuffles management; Nordea names CEO; CYBG sees extra £450M PPI charge

Latin America: Chile cuts 2019 growth forecast; Mastercard stops servicing 2 Venezuelan banks

North America: First Busey considering another deal; BofA recognizes $2.1B impairment charge

Global Insurance: Prudential Financial buying insurtech; Scor review; Dorian threatens Carolinas

R Sio, Emily Lai, Jonathan Cheah, Jaekwon Lim and Santibhap Ussavasodhi contributed to this report.

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