ANZ limits asset finance deals; Pakistan raises banks' cash reserve requirement

TOP NEWS IN BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES

* Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. will stop accepting one-off applications for asset finance deals from Dec. 1, The Australian Financial Review reported. The Australian lender said it will only accept deals from customers who have a relationship with the bank or are open to developing one.

* The State Bank of Pakistan decided to increase scheduled banks' average cash reserve requirement, or CRR, to 6% from 5% for two weeks. The minimum CRR to be maintained each day will rise to 4% from 3%.

➤ Philippine virtual banks to ride on remittance flows, digital payments

The nation's six newly licensed digital-only banks are set to grab a slice of the US$35 billion remittance market from brick-and-mortar lenders and nonbank platforms, analysts say.

➤ High-yield savings products fall back in fintech-bank battle for market share

Large banks have been retreating from the battlefield of high-yield savings as competition for core retail customers has shifted toward prioritizing a full suite of products.

BANKING

* Shinsei Bank Ltd. forecast its net income attributable to the owners of the parent to increase to 70.2 billion yen in the fiscal year ending March 2025 in response to inquiries by the Deposit Insurance Corp. of Japan, which owns a nearly 22% stake in the bank, on how it plans to boost corporate value. SBI Holdings Inc. also said it plans to increase the bank's net income in the fiscal year ending March 2025.

* Thailand-based Kasikornbank PCL opened its 10th overseas branch in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City, Manager Daily reported.

* Indonesian state lender PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) Tbk said it will increase lending to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises to 85% of its total loans by 2025, up from 82.67% currently, Bisnis Indonesia reported, citing Corporate Secretary Aestika Oryza Gunarto.

* Malaysia's Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Bhd. completed the acquisition of Danajamin Nasional Bhd. as a wholly owned subsidiary, The Star reported, citing a statement from the lender.

* Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd. issued the fourth tranche of its subordinated sukuk murabahah amounting to 300 million ringgit, which will qualify as Tier 2 regulatory capital of the bank.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

* The Financial Intelligence Unit, an anti-money laundering unit under South Korea's Financial Services Commission, approved Coinone Inc.'s application to register its virtual asset business, The Korea Herald reported.

* Cryptocurrency exchange operator Binance informed cryptocurrency traders in Thailand that the platform will stop providing Thai language support from Nov. 19 to comply with local regulations, Manager Daily reported.

* Nayanee Peaugkham, head of Bank of Ayudhya PCL's unsecured loan unit Krungsri Consumer, said the firm is open to credit card spending using cryptocurrencies in the future, Bangkok Post reported. She added that the company has been developing digital platforms for both credit card and personal loan products in line with changing consumer behavior.

* Jonathan Slone will step down as Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s Asia chair to assume the role of senior global adviser to the U.S. investment bank from Nov. 30, the Financial Times (London) reported. Slone will remain in Hong Kong.

* Australian buy-now, pay-later firm Beforepay is seeking to raise A$35 million in an IPO, where it intends to offer 10.2 million new shares at A$3.41 apiece, The Australian Financial Review's Street Talk blog reported. The offer is set to open on Nov. 30, and the firm expects to list on the ASX on Jan. 17 with a market capitalization of A$158.3 million.

POLICY AND REGULATION

* The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission announced its ratings on governance for 1,673 commercial banks and 184 insurance institutions. Altogether, 138 institutions received the lowest ratings, or Level E, which means poor governance. The ratings were based on various governance metrics, including Communist Party of China governance rules.

* China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, or CCDI, said Zhang Fenghuai, former director of Bank of China Ltd.'s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region branch, was investigated for suspected discipline and law violations.

* The CCDI also said Xu Guojun, former president of Bank of China's Kaiping subbranch in Guangdong province, was repatriated to China after staying in the U.S. for 20 years.

* Loan loss provisions among commercial banks in Thailand remained high at 872 billion baht, with a nonperforming loan coverage ratio of 155% in the third quarter of 2021, the Bank of Thailand said in a release. Bank loans for the same period grew 5.6% year on year and 3.7% in the previous quarter, while gross NPLs increased to 546.3 billion baht.

* The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is looking to sign cross-border payment agreements with Malaysia and Thailand, BusinessWorld reported, citing the Philippines central bank's Payment System Oversight Department director, Raymond O. Estioko.

* Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi led a review meeting on Nov. 13, which decided the government should seek global partnerships and collective strategies on digital currencies and continue to engage with experts and stakeholders, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

* The Intellectual Property division of India's Delhi high court rejected Resilient Innovations Pvt. Ltd.'s, or BharatPe's, petition for the cancellation of PhonePe Pvt. Ltd.'s registrations for the "Pe" suffix, Mint reported.

* The Reserve Bank of India barred The Laxmi Cooperative Bank Ltd. from granting or renewing loans and advances and from making any investments, among other restrictions, due to the deterioration of its financial position. It also capped withdrawals at 1,000 rupees for each customer.

* The Reserve Bank of India also issued clarifications on its norms on income recognition, asset classification and provisioning of nonperforming assets to ensure uniform implementation in all lending institutions.

Click here for a summary of indexes on the S&P Capital IQ Pro platform.

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

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