*ING Groep NV islooking to divest its US$300 million stake in India's , Reuters reported,citing a deal term sheet. The deal has an upsize option of up to US$550million, according to the term sheet. An ING spokeswoman confirmed the move.
*The People's Bank of China and the European Central Bank agreed to extend their bilateral currency swaparrangement for another three years. The arrangement will be extended with thesame conditions and parameters as before, with a maximum size of 350 billionyuan and €45 billion.
*U.K.-based private equity firm Permira is close to buying 's shareregistry unit Tricor Holdings, Reuters reported, citing "people familiar with the matter."The two parties are said to be in advanced talks and Permira could buy the unitfor between US$750 million and US$800 million. The companies have not yetsigned a formal deal.
*Deutsche Börse AG'splans to establish a joint venture with the China Foreign Exchange Trade Systemhave been pushed back as the German firm turns its focus on its planned mergerwith London Stock Exchange GroupPlc, Reuters reported, citing "three sources familiar with thesituation."
*Anthony Miller, head of investment banking solutions in the Asia-Pacific forGoldman Sachs GroupInc., plans to leave the company, Bloomberg News , citing "people familiarwith the matter."
*Vietnam Joint Stock CommercialBank for Industry & Trade, or Vietinbank, has with to collaborate on cross-border payments.
*Credit Suisse GroupAG appointed Tsuneaki Hirao as managing director and head ofprivate banking for Japan, Reuters reported.
GREATER CHINA
*China's National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors saidthat services related to debt financing would be suspended for Dongbei SpecialSteel Group Co. Ltd. as it failed to release financial data for 2015 and thefirst quarter on time, ShanghaiSecurities News reported.
*Postal Savings Bank of China Co.Ltd. completed its HK$56.63 billion in Hong Kong and Soros FundManagement is among its overseas institutional investors, Caixin reported.
*China's agriculture-related finance has been in shortage for about 3 trillionyuan since 2014, the country's Scienceand Technology Daily reported.Internet financing companies have been urged to provide better services forrural financing and reduce financial risks.
* BaShusong, the China Banking Association's chief economist, said China shouldallow bigger moves in the yuan against the backdrop of depreciation pressure,Reuters reported.Ba noted that by doing so, it would provide some flexibility in dealing withfluctuations in the offshore yuan market and promote the internationalizationof the currency, the report said.
*China issued 595 real estate trust products in the country's collective trustmarket in the eight months ended August, with the total value of the productsissued increasing 13.7% year over year to 154.92 billion yuan, Shanghai Securities News reported.
* ABloomberg survey showed economists are split as to whether Taiwan's centralbank would maintain the key interest rate or not, the Taipei Times reported.Fourteen out of the 26 economists surveyed expected the monetary policy boardled by central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan to hold the key interest rate at1.375%, while the others forecast a further cut to 1.25%, the fifth sinceSeptember 2015, the Taipei Times reported.
*Shanghai Pudong Development BankCo. Ltd. said its board approved writing off 6.46 billion yuan ofassets, Bloomberg News reported,citing an exchange filing.
*Taiwan's Mega InternationalCommercial Bank Co. Ltd. has hired New York-based experts to makesure its New York branch complies with regulations, following concerns oversuspicious accounts and transactions made at the branch, the Taipei Times reported,citing Michael Chang, the bank's chairman.
*Far Eastern International BankLtd. plans to issue NT$4 billion of subordinated bonds,Reuters reported, citing a Chinese-language release. The seven-year bonds werepriced with an interest rate of 1.55%. The par value and issue price is NT$10million.
JAPAN AND KOREA
*Japan's private payroll increased for the third straight year in 2015 on theback of a declining unemployment rate, Tokyo's The Nikkei reported.The average wage increased by 1.3% year over year to ¥4.2 million.
*Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJLtd. will leave 10-year fixed rate home loan interest ratesunchanged in October; however, the bank will raise the 20-year mortgage rate, The Mainichi Shimbun reported.Mizuho Bank Ltd. andSumitomo Mitsui Trust BankLtd. will also maintain their interest rates on similar products.
*According to KGZeroin, a South Korean fund evaluator, Vietnam's overseas fundattracted the most overseas funds in September, totaling 78.3 billion won ofinvestment, the Yonhap News Agency reported.In August, the same trend was observed and more than 50 billion won worth offund was invested in Vietnam's overseas fund.
*South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service will conduct inspections on WooriCard and Lotte Card to evaluate the soundness of the companies' businessoperations and financials, the Yonhap News Agency reported.
*Bank of Korea willreconstruct the way the Composite Consumer Sentiment Index is observed andcollected as an indicator of the country's consumer confidence, Money Today reported.This is the first such reorganization since 1995.
ASEAN
*The Bank of Thailand's board announced the appointment of five top executives,effective Oct. 1, Krungthep Turakij reported. AssistantGovernor Chantavarn Sucharitakul is moving from the Financial MarketsOperations Group to the new Corporate Strategy and Relations Group, among otherappointments.
* Post Today reported that theThai cabinet allowed the Finance Ministry to set up an asset management companyto manage nonperforming financing of the Islamic Bank of Thailand worth 47 billion baht,representing 43.4% of its total loans. The government also approved a capitalincrease of 2.5 billion baht to boost the bank's liquidity.
*KASIKORN Research Center raised its forecast for Thailand's 2016 GDP growth to3.3% from a previous projection of 3% on the back of improved public investmentand exports, Manager Daily reported.Meanwhile, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak is confident that thecountry's economy will grow 3.2% in 2016 without additional stimulus measuresrequired, Krungthep Turakij reported.
*Viriyah Insurance PCL posted direct premium income of 21.7 billion Thai baht,up 1.2% year over year from December 2015, PostToday reported.
*The Indonesian Financial Services Authority, or OJK, is aiming for credit growthof 12% to 14% in 2017, higher than the 2016 forecast of 11% to 12%, Infobank reported,citing Nelson Tampubolonm, OJK's executive head of banking supervision.
* Indonesia'scompetitiveness ranking dropped four places to 41st out of 138 countriessurveyed in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report for fiscal2016-2017, due to its rigid labor market, red tape and slow internet speed, The Jakarta Globe reported.
*Meanwhile, Malaysia's position in the Global Competitiveness Report fell to 25th,from 18th in the prior-year report, TheStar reported.
*Bank Julius Baer & Co.Ltd.'s Singapore branch concluded a share accumulator dispute after the HighCourt of Singapore dismissed the case with costs. The Singapore branch wasnamed as one of the defendants in an underlying claim amounting to about S$94 millionand HK$186 million. The case was filed Sept. 27, 2013.
SOUTH ASIA
*Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor S.S. Mundra said there cannot be "aleaderless bank," flagging a potential leadership vacuum in state-ownedbanks in the country, The Hindu BusinessLine reported.
*Tata Sons unit Tata Realty & Infrastructure became the frontrunner toacquire the Chhattisgarh road asset from IDFC Ltd. asset management arm IDFC Alternatives, The Economic Times reported,citing "three independent sources familiar with ongoing negotiations."
*India's RBL Bank Ltd.raised 3.3 billionIndian rupees through the issuance of Basel III-compliant Tier 2 bonds toU.K.-based development finance institution CDC Group Plc.
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
*National Australia BankLtd. paid A$6.5 million to victims of "poor" financialadvice over the past 18 months in line with its wealth advice responseprogram, The Australian reported.
*IMB Ltd. Noel Cornish as thecompany's chairman, replacing Michael Cole who will retire. Cornish has beendeputy chairman since 2015 and has served as a nonexecutive director since 2010.
IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD
MiddleEast & Africa: Bahraintightens reins on Islamic banking; AfDB bats for Nigeria
Europe:StanChart's new US woes; KBClooks east; Credit Suisse cost cuts
LatinAmerica: Cade probesBM&FBOVESPA; Fenaban proposes 2-year wage agreements
NorthAmerica: Stumpf to forfeit $41Min unvested equity; 2 Minnesota-based banks merging
NorthAmerica Insurance: Wellmarkshrinks health coverage options in Iowa; Aetna to subsidize Apple watches forsome customers
Sally Wang, Sarun Saelee,Cathy Hwang, Emi White and Aditya Suharmoko contributed to this report.
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