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Alibaba closes Ant Financial stake purchase; Australia hints at further rate cut

GREATER CHINA

* Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. completed the acquisition of a 33% stake in Ant Financial Services Group. The e-commerce giant in February 2018 announced the deal to purchase an interest in the company that operates the Alipay payments services platform.

* Yi Gang, governor of the People's Bank of China, said the regulator does not have a timetable for rolling out its digital currency, adding that the currency would need to meet regulatory requirements including anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism financing, tax evasion, and know your customer compliance, Yicai reported.

* The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission allowed China Everbright Wealth Management Co. Ltd. to commence operations. Based in Qingdao, Shandong province and with a registered capital of 5 billion yuan, the China Everbright Bank Co. Ltd. unit will offer wealth management products as well as advisory and consultancy services.

* China International Capital Corp. Ltd. entered into a shareholders' agreement with Tencent Digital (Shenzhen) Ltd., a subsidiary of Tencent Holdings Ltd., to establish a joint venture that would facilitate the former's wealth and retail brokerage businesses, among others.

* Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission said it will revise regulations on the insurance sector in a bid to adopt four major supervisory measures on the practice of taking loans to buy insurance policies, Taiwan's Economic Daily reported. Under the new rules, insurance brokers will be prohibited from asking clients to pay insurance policies with loans.

JAPAN AND KOREA

* AXA Life Insurance Co. Ltd. and Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. will introduce free referral services in the areas of care facilities and asset management, beginning in October, Tokyo's The Nikkei reported. The move is part of an effort to co-develop new services in the elderly care business since forming a business tie-up in October 2018. The companies will collaborate with eight firms specializing in home care and trust services.

* Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda confirmed that short- and medium-term interest rates would have to be lowered further if the regulator decides to pursue additional easing measures, Bloomberg News reported. Kuroda added that excessive cuts of ultralong-term interest rates can be avoided by manipulating the funding supply through Japanese government bond purchases.

* Fitch Ratings warned South Korean financial companies about risks inherent to their rapid expansion into Southeast Asia and other emerging markets, The Korea Times reported, citing Matt Choi, Fitch's director of financial institutions. Choi said a rapid growth in banks' exposure would negatively impact their operating environment and credit ratings and may expose them to greater volatility in the event of shock.

ASEAN

* The Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand is in the process of appointing a panel to conduct a study on amending the Securities and Exchange Act, the country's Krungthep Turakij reported. More details are expected to be disclosed in the first quarter of 2020.

* The Stock Exchange of Thailand and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand have collaborated to introduce a one-stop service platform that will provide advice to firms considering IPOs as well as offer assistance to listed companies, the exchange said in a release.

* Thailand's Government Housing Bank plans to raise 30 billion baht by issuing lottery-linked deposit accounts worth 10 million baht each in October, The Nation reported. The mortgage lender raised 27 billion baht from an issuance of lottery-linked accounts worth 1 million baht each earlier in 2019, the report added, quoting Chatchai Sirilai, the bank's president. It also plans to launch another 50 billion baht fundraising round in 2020.

* Vietnam-based Tân Việt Securities Inc. launched its derivatives products at the Hanoi Stock Exchange, Viet Nam News reported. The company was the 17th firm to take part in the country's derivatives market in August.

SOUTH ASIA

* The Reserve Bank of India prohibited Punjab and Punjab & Maharashtra Co-operative Bank Ltd. from granting or renewing loans, making investments and borrowing funds, among others, for a six-month period starting from the close of business Sept. 23. The central bank also placed restrictions on the lender's depositors from withdrawing over 1,000 rupees of the total balance from savings, current and other deposit accounts, Mint reported, citing two sources aware of the matter. The measures were put in place following allegations that the lender underreported its bad loans.

* Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Ltd. created a "side pocket" for its exposure to Reliance Capital Ltd. after the latter missed an interest payment Sept. 9 that led to a default on its debt, Mint reported. A side pocket is a portion of a mutual fund's portfolio set aside in place of bad debt. Investors can redeem this portion by selling units on a stock exchange and are paid back money against it when the bad debt is recovered. Reliance Capital expects to complete the sale of its entire stake in Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management by the end of September.

* Investment Corporation of Bangladesh plans to open a 50 billion taka ICB Unit Fund for investors, pending regulatory approval, The Financial Express reported, citing Md. Abul Hossain, managing director of the state-run investment arm. Sales of the units had been stopped due to the conditions of a development agreement with Asian Development Bank, the report noted.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

* The Reserve Bank of Australia could further reduce policy rates Oct. 1 as consumer spending slows and uncertainty over Brexit and the U.S.-China trade war rises, The Australian Financial Review reported. Philip Lowe hinted at potentially cutting rates as early as the next monetary policy meeting, noting that the central bank could not ignore the market shift in other central banks easing monetary policy.

* AMP Ltd. has given some of its partner financial advisers until Oct. 31 to accept a termination offer or face less favorable terms with the company, The Australian Financial Review reported, citing a letter to the advisers. AMP said the advisers' practices no longer meet "the thresholds that we have set under [our] future strategy." AMP had been trying to rebuild its business model after an industry-wide probe found that it wrongfully charged fees to clients.

* A subsidiary of Australian payment provider iSignthis Ltd. was found to have triggered suspicious transaction alarms at the now defunct Danish bank Københavns Andelskasse, or KAB, according to a joint investigation by The Australian Financial Review and Danish business publication Børsen. The transactions occurred in the middle of 2018 and were considered to be large foreign transfers. iSignthis CEO John Karantzis declined to comment on the investigation and on questions on why the company chose to bank with KAB, which is facing a money-laundering related probe in Denmark, AFR reported separately.

IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

Middle East & Africa: Tanzania fines 5 banks for anti-money laundering breach; Kenya holds rate

Europe: Greece's Piraeus, German bank fined; top Deutsche investor looking for new chair

Latin America: Banco do Brasil, UBS ink investment banking MOU; Paraguay cuts key rate

North America: Md. banks in deal; Goldman eyes Europe M&A; SEC chiefs to attend House hearing

Global Insurance: Lloyd's culture survey; BRP Group IPO; insurers' climate pledge

R Sio, Sally Wang, Sarun Saelee, Cathy Hwang, Emi White and Aditya Suharmoko contributed to this report.

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