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 may require a subscription.
M&A updates
* South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service said it will not approve DGB Financial Group Co. Ltd.'s proposed acquisition of HI Investment & Securities Co. Ltd. until governance issues involving Chairman and CEO Park In-gyu are resolved.
* Japan's Mizuho Financial Group Inc. and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. agreed to merge their units, Trust & Custody Services Bank Ltd. and Japan Trustee Services Bank Ltd., respectively, to create a leading trust bank specializing in asset administration services in the country.
* Korea Development Bank is reportedly considering infusing an additional 200 billion South Korean won of capital into KDB Life Insurance Co. Ltd., and selling a stake in the unit on the condition the buyer participates in the capital increase.
* Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance Co. Ltd. will sell its 50% stake in MMC Diamond Finance Corp. to Mitsubishi Motors Corp., which owns 47% of the auto financing company.
* Westpac Banking Corp. said subsidiary Hastings Management Pty. Ltd. completed the sale of its international businesses to U.K.-based Northill Capital LLP.
Regulatory, legal developments
* Indonesia's Financial Services Authority, or OJK, ordered the country's systemically important banks to create a Tier 1 capital surcharge of between 1% and 3.5% of risk-weighted assets, depending on the size and viewed riskiness of the bank.
* India's IDBI Bank Ltd. disclosed that it detected 7.72 billion rupees worth of fraudulent loans issued by five of its local branches between 2009 and 2013.
* Taiwan's Mega International Commercial Bank Co. Ltd. and EnTie Commercial Bank Co. Ltd. clarified they do not have a relationship with Metropolitan Asset Management Corp., after media reports alleged the latter used falsified documents to obtain bank loans.
* The Mongolian central bank lowered its benchmark interest rate to 10% from 11%, while the central bank of Thailand maintained its policy rate at 1.50%.
Chinese banks' FY'17 profits
* Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. reported a 2.80% year-over-year rise in net profit for the year ended Dec. 31, 2017.
* Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. reported a 4.9% year-over-year increase in net profit for 2017.
* China Construction Bank Corp. reported a 4.7% year-over-year rise in net profit for 2017.
* China Everbright Bank Co. Ltd., Postal Savings Bank of China Co. Ltd.
In other news
* Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. is revamping its brand by, among other things, changing its acronym to "SMBC" from "SMFG," effective April.
* Bank of China Ltd. received approval from New Zealand's central bank to provide banking services in the country.
* The Vietnam central bank granted Agricultural Bank of China a license to set up a branch in Hanoi.
* Shinsei Bank Ltd. will abolish its banking infrastructure planning division, effective April 1.
* India's Jana Small Finance Bank Ltd. commenced operations, and plans to enter the affordable housing and consumer durable loans segments in addition to microfinance.
* China Merchants Bank Co. Ltd. plans to set up an asset management unit with 5 billion yuan in capital.
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