GREATER CHINA
* Yin Jinbao, chairman of Tianjin Rural Commercial Bank Co. Ltd. for six months, was found dead in his office after his wrists had been slit, China's National Business Daily reported. Officials said the death was a suspected suicide, while insiders said his death might be related to authorities' earlier investigations on the bank, where he was president for three and a half years.
* JD Finance, a financial technology firm under China's e-commerce giant Jindong Group Co. Ltd., is in talks with China Merchants Bank Co. Ltd. to co-establish a direct bank, China's Sina Finance reported, citing several independent sources. JD Finance was earlier in talks with Huishang Bank Corp. Ltd. to cooperate on a direct bank.
* China's banking and insurance regulator issued guidelines requiring commercial banks to have their high quality liquidity asset adequacy ratio at 80% by the end of 2018, and at 100% by the end of June 2019, Reuters reported, citing a statement posted on the website of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission. The revised guidelines, which aim to improve supervision and risk control, will be implemented beginning July 1.
JAPAN AND KOREA
* Seven regional banks in Japan — Senshu Ikeda Bank Ltd., Gunma Bank Ltd., San-in Godo Bank Ltd., Shikoku Bank Ltd., Chiba Kogyo Bank Ltd., Tsukuba Bank Ltd., and Fukui Bank Ltd. —plan to form a new fintech company with a capital of ¥100 million on June 25, The Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun in Japan reported. An executive board member of NTT Data Institute of Management Consulting will be named as the company's president.
* Japan's Shimizu Bank Ltd. is expected to raise up to ¥6.2 billion via issuance of new stocks to increase capital for small business loans, Tokyo's The Nikkei reported.
* Japan-based Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.'s consolidated full-year net surplus attributable to the parent company rose to ¥69.84 billion in the year ended March 31 from ¥56.07 billion in the prior-year period.
* South Korea's financial regulators confirmed a new policy which will mandate banks to increase the household loan weighted value by 15% and lower the corporate loan weighted value by the same amount, effective 2020, The Chosun Ilbo in the country reported. The new scheme aims to regulate the unbalanced composition of household and corporate liability.
ASEAN
* Thailand's state-owned Secondary Mortgage Corporation partnered with Government Savings Bank to allow their clients to repay mortgage loans through the latter's branches and its online platforms, Krungthep Turakij in Thailand reported.
* Union Bank of the Philippines plans to raise 10 billion pesos via a stock rights offering in July to increase its capital, the country's BusinessWorld reported, citing CFO and Treasurer Jose Emmanuel Hilado Jr. Citibank will be the arranger of the rights offer.
* Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. obtained approval from the Philippine Stock Exchange to raise as much as 15 billion pesos via a stock rights offering. The bank plans to sell up to 540 million new common shares. The offer will run from June 25 to June 29.
* Indonesia's central bank will hold a monetary policy meeting on May 30 to discuss if another interest rate hike would stabilize the Indonesian rupiah, The Nikkei reported. The central bank raised its benchmark seven-day repo rate by 25 basis points to 4.50% on May 17, its first hike since November 2014.
SOUTH ASIA
* Bank of Baroda posted a consolidated net loss of 29.07 billion Indian rupees for the fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31, compared to a net profit of 2.55 billion rupees in the prior-year period. The bank attributed the loss to higher provisions on account of central bank guidelines on revised framework for stressed assets and large corporate slippages.
* IDBI Bank Ltd. reported a stand-alone net loss after minority interest and share of loss in associates of 56.63 billion Indian rupees for the fiscal fourth quarter, compared to a net loss of 32 billion rupees in the prior-year period. Loss per share was 21.27 rupees, compared to 15.54 rupees in the year-ago quarter.
* Kuwait's Noor Financial Investment Co., which was reportedly in talks to sell a combined 9.59% stake in Pakistan-based Meezan Bank Ltd., has divested 26,447,000 ordinary shares in the Pakistani lender, representing 2.49% of the bank's the total issue and paid up capital. The shares were acquired by several foreign investors at a price of 70 rupees per share.
* Pakistan is expected to get US$1 billion to US$2 billion of loans from China amid growing ties between the two countries, Reuters reported, citing several government sources in Pakistan. Pakistan plans to use the fresh funds to boost its rapidly-depleting foreign currency reserves after the United States started cutting aid to Pakistan. China's total loan to Pakistan is expected to hit US$5 billion in the fiscal year ending June, the report said.
* Pakistan's central bank decided to raise its policy rate by 50 basis points to 6.50%, effective May 28, saying the nation's balance of payments and fiscal deficit are adversely affecting macroeconomic stability.
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
* National Australia Bank Ltd. apologized to customers after a system failure resulted in a nationwide outage of its banking services on May 26, including ATMs and internet and mobile banking. The bank said it will refund customers who had lost money due to the outage. It added that no personal data was compromised during the incident.
* Commonwealth Bank of Australia and the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, or Austrac, missed a deadline to enter into a court-ordered mediation with regards to a money-laundering suit against the bank, The Australian reported. The next case management hearing is scheduled for Dec. 7, the publication noted. Austrac had previously accused CBA of breaching anti-money laundering laws when it failed to alert the regulator of suspicious banking transactions.
* James Shipton, chairman of Australian Securities and Investments Commission, is looking to raise funds for a plan to appoint specialist supervisors in Australia's major banks to help tackle the misconduct and poor behavior featured in the financial services royal commission, The Australian reported. Shipton was said to have presented the plan to the government to help ensure that past misconducts and mistakes in the sector will not be repeated.
Janna Estares, Sally Wang, Sarun Saelee, Cathy Hwang, Emi White and Aditya Suharmoko contributed to this report.
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