TOP NEWS IN BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES
* Australia-based Xinja Pty Ltd. will cease being a bank, surrender its authorized deposit-taking institution license and return customers' deposits after a review of the market in the aftermath of COVID-19 and citing a difficult capital-raising environment.
* SBI Financial Services Co. Ltd., a unit of Japan's SBI Holdings Inc., acquired London-based cryptocurrency trading firm B2C2 OTC Ltd. after it agreed to take a minority stake in the firm earlier in July.
➤ GIC-backed JustCo sees rising demand from enterprises for coworking space
The Singapore-based coworking space operator is optimistic that the demand for flexible offices will continue to grow after the pandemic as companies seek a balance between remote work and keeping teams together.
➤ US bankruptcies surpass 600 in 2020 as coronavirus-era filings keep climbing
A total of 610 companies have entered bankruptcy proceedings in 2020 as of Dec. 13. The latest filings include clothing chain Francesca's Holdings and oil field services company Superior Energy Services.
BANKING
* South Korea's Woori Bank will start receiving voluntary retirement requests from its employees aged 55 years or more, the Chosun Ilbo reported, citing industry sources.
* South Korean commercial banks KB Kookmin Bank, Woori Bank and NongHyup Bank will increase interest rates of newly issued mortgage-backed loans by 3 basis points as the benchmark rate COFX in November jumped 0.9% from the previous month, Yonhap News Agency reported.
* Indonesian state lender PT Bank BRIsyariah Tbk appointed Hery Gunardi CEO of PT Bank Syariah Indonesia, effective Feb. 1, 2021, Bisnis Indonesia reported. Gunardi is currently CEO of PT Bank Syariah Mandiri.
* India-based Axis Bank Ltd. denied reports alleging that the lender loaned 440 billion rupees to SREI Infrastructure and Finance Ltd. without due diligence. The bank said that it followed its underwriting practices and approval processes while lending to Srei Infrastructure Finance Ltd. and Srei Equipment Finance Ltd. and that its exposure to SREI group is 8 billion rupees in total.
* Union Bank of India raised 5 billion rupees in aggregate through the allotment of unsecured subordinated nonconvertible Basel III-compliant bonds.
* The board of Punjab National Bank approved the opening of its qualified institutions placement worth 70 billion rupees and a floor price of 37.35 rupees per equity share for the placement.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
* The executive chairman of China's Ant Group Co. Ltd., Eric Jing, said the firm has conducted a thorough review of its operations and it will make itself more transparent and predictable, South China Morning Post reported.
* Singapore-based Singapore Exchange Ltd. will invest S$20 million to expand its sustainability program, with half going towards new environmental, social and governance-focused products, services and platforms, while the other half going towards capacity building for the financial ecosystem, among other things.
* The chairman of Bharti Airtel Ltd. Sunil Mittal said its unit Airtel Payments Bank Ltd. could be upgraded to a small finance bank from a payments bank license in order to enter the lending business, The Economic Times reported.
* Australia-based AMP Ltd.'s head of superannuation Lara Bourguignon will step down from her position at the end of 2020, and will be succeeded by the firm's managing director of workplace superannuation Ilaine Anderson on an interim basis, The Australian Financial Review reported.
* AMP is said to have brought corporate advisory firm Blackpeak Capital Pty. Ltd.'s executive chairman Max Billingham to provide independent counsel to its board on the interest in the firm and U.S.-based Ares Management Corp.'s bid, The Australian reported.
POLICY AND REGULATION
* The People's Bank of China offered 950 billion yuan through a medium-term lending facility at a rate of 2.95% in order to maintain ample liquidity in the banking system, including rolling over matured medium-term loans Dec. 7 and Dec. 16.
* The People's Bank of China issued a notice calling for wider acceptance of cash, stressing that cash payment should not be refused or discriminated, especially for senior citizens who are not accustomed to noncash payment.
* The China Securities Regulatory Commission temporarily froze Golden Credit Rating International Co. Ltd.'s license and it has forbidden the firm from taking on new business for three months after saying it failed to justify some of its credit ratings and upgrades, the Financial Times reported.
* Bank of Thailand's deputy governor for financial institutions stability, Ronadol Numnonda said, the central bank is urging banks to accelerate reaching out the 6% of the small and medium-sized enterprise borrowers who have not been contacted in order to manage the risks of bad loans, Bangkok Post reported.
* The Reserve Bank of India in a working paper called for the capital positions of the banks to be strengthened and their asset quality addressed in order to improve the transmission of lower interest rates to consumers, Reuters reported.
* The Reserve Bank of India fined The Urban Co-operative Bank Ltd. 5 million rupees for not complying with the central bank's directions on income recognition and asset classification norms, among other things.
* A judge in the Australian Federal Court said he hoped the case of Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. allegedly colluding as a cartel to stop prices from dropping during a 2015 share sale to come to trial in 2022 after the parties entered nonguilty pleas, Reuters reported, citing sources.
MARKET SNAPSHOT
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R Sio, Sally Wang, Sarun Saelee, Cathy Hwang, Emi White and Aditya Suharmoko contributed to this report.
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