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HKEX open to up LSE bid; Malaysia keeps key rate; Salesforce funds open banking

GREATER CHINA

* Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. is open to considering a higher cash component of its £32 billion offer to acquire London Stock Exchange Group PLC, as it courts the British bourse's investors, the Financial Times reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. The Hong Kong exchange, however, will not change its offer until it gets a response from LSE. LSE's board is expected to meet in the coming days to decide on the proposal, Reuters reported.

* The Shenzhen Stock Exchange suspended the initial service charge for listing exchange-traded funds, and will scrap the monthly service charges for ETFs beginning 2020, in a bid to increase trading volume, Beijing News reported.

* Fan Hua, former head of fixed income and absolute return investment department at China Investment Corp., joined China Merchants Bank Co. Ltd., Yicai reported. She will take up the posts of senior vice chairman and chief investment officer at the bank's wealth management subsidiary.

* Bank of Communications Co. Ltd. will issue 40 billion yuan of perpetual bonds on Sept. 18, Shanghai Securities News reported. The minimum subscription amount is 10 million yuan.

JAPAN AND KOREA

* An internal investigation commissioned by Japan Post Holdings Co. Ltd. found 2,000 instances of investment trust products that were sold improperly to elderly customers at 200 branches of unit Japan Post Bank Co. Ltd., with most of them conducted during the fiscal year ended March, Jiji Press reported, citing unidentified sources.

* Tokyo-based Seven Bank Ltd. unveiled its next-generation ATMs that will replace about 25,000 ATMs nationwide by 2024, The Nikkei reported. Seven Bank's new ATM banking platform is enabled for personal authentication using face recognition.

ASEAN

* Bank Negara Malaysia kept the overnight policy rate at 3%, citing the country's stronger economic growth performance in the second quarter despite slower global economic growth and trade tensions.

* Indonesia's Financial Services Authority released data showing a record 36.4% growth in commercial banks' nonperforming loans year-to-date, Bisnis Indonesia reported. NPLs in the sector grew to 4.3 trillion rupiah.

* PT Bank Artos Indonesia Tbk is planning a rights issue worth 181 billion rupiah to be carried out in two stages in 2019 and 2020, Bisnis Indonesia reported.

SOUTH ASIA

* The Reserve Bank of India cut the risk weight requirements for consumer lending products to 100% from the current requirement of 125%, in an effort to lower the cost of consumer loans. The reduction does not apply to credit card receivables, the central bank noted.

* The Securities and Exchange Board of India fined ICICI Bank Ltd. and compliance officer Sandeep Batra 1 million rupees and 200,000 rupees, respectively, for lapses and delays in disclosing a binding implementation agreement that the lender and now-defunct Bank of Rajasthan Ltd. signed in May 2010, in relation to their merger, the Press Trust of India reported.

* India's Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. made changes to fixed-deposit interest rates on some of its maturities products, with effect from Sept. 6, following an earlier revision of the rates in late August, Mint reported. The interest rates on the bank's maturities now range from 3.50% to 6.80%.

* Member employees of the United Forum of Bank Unions are planning to stage a two-day strike beginning Sept. 20 to protest the Indian government's initiative to consolidate 10 public sector banks into four entities, the Press Trust of India reported. The union also plans to send a memorandum opposing the merger to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

* The Australian Securities and Investments Commission prohibited a certain type of payday loan being offered by short-term lenders Cigno Pty Ltd. and Gold-Silver Standard Finance Pty Ltd. as well as MYFI Australia Pty Ltd. and BHF Solutions Pty Ltd. The regulator said the firms used a business model to charge exorbitant fees and circumvent current regulations covering interest rates.

* June Smith, deputy chief ombudsman of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, said it had received over 60,687 customer complaints, of which "almost 73%" have been closed, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Following the overwhelming number of complaints it received since launching in late 2018, the regulatory body has urged banks to consider "fairness" when resolving customer disputes.

* U.S.-based cloud computing firm salesforce.com inc. is making an investment in open banking platform operator Basiq Pty Ltd, along with National Australia Bank Ltd. and Westpac Banking Corp., through the financial technology firm's Series A round of financing, The Australian Financial Review reported. This follows Pip Marlow's appointment as Salesforce's CEO after leaving Suncorp Group Ltd. in August.

IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

Middle East & Africa: Kenyan rate cap under debate; Access Bank targets unbanked Nigerians

Europe: LSE gets £32B bid; HSBC mulls French retail arm sale; Bankia trial delayed

Latin America: Argentina unveils more currency controls; Brazil tax chief sacked

North America: Square sues San Francisco; Va. banks in deal; NY bank warns of possible fraud

Global Insurance: Uninsured children in US up; mining insurance commentary; opioid settlement

Janna Estares, Emily Lai, Jonathan Cheah, Jaekwon Lim and Santibhap Ussavasodhi contributed to this report.

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