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Category: Finance

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest Finance news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • UBS Remains in Race for Dutch Asset Manager

    UBS Remains in Race for Dutch Asset Manager

    The Swiss bank is among the suitors remaining for Dutch asset manager NN. The competition for NN is strong – but UBS may have an ace up its sleeve.

    The sale of Dutch money manager NN is entering the next round with UBS, DWS, Prudential, and U.S.-based Nuveen submitting bids. None of the reported suitors nor the target commented.

    The potential acquirers are in the midst of due diligence, according to the newswire, though the deadline to place bids for the 300 million euro ($363 million) asset manager is July 1. The other firms which had expressed interest in buying – including Allianz, Generali, and The Royal London Group – have retreated.

    NN aims to take in as much as 1.6 billion euros by selling. UBS has somewhat of an inside track on NN because ING spun it off in 2014 – under then-CEO Ralph Hamers, who moved to the UBS top job last November.

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  • Citi to End Small Biz Banking in Singapore

    Citi to End Small Biz Banking in Singapore

    The bank will shut its consumer unit serving small businesses in Singapore in mid-August.

    Citibank has decided to close its Citibusiness unit, which will affect some 2,000 customers, following an ongoing strategic review of the business.

    About 20 to 30 staff will be affected by the changes, a bank spokesperson said, saying that Citi would be re-allocating its resources and our people to support other growth areas and sharpen its client focus.

    Citibusiness, which serves small-sized businesses, is part of its consumer banking division. The bank will continue to serve small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) clients through Citi Commercial Bank.

    Singapore is a priority market for Citi. We continue to invest and focus on growth areas of the bank including the SME and commercial banking business, the spokesperson said.

    Citi recently announced that it is considering downsizing its consumer business worldwide, with an eye on selling some of its businesses in the Asia Pacific region.

    At the same time, the U.S.-headquartered bank has placed its bets on four wealth hubs, which includes Singapore, as it consolidates its operations globally.

    It aims to double its wealth management market share in Singapore from the current 5 percent, and triple the number of clients by 2025. To achieve this, it is looking to hire over 330 relationship managers.

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  • Bank of Singapore Loses Russian Heavyweight

    Bank of Singapore Loses Russian Heavyweight

    A key private banker covering the Russian market has left Bank of Singapore.

    Vadim Bondarev, head for Russia and Eastern Europe, is leaving Bank of Singapore (BoS), sources familiar with his exit said.

    A spokesperson from the bank confirmed this information.

    Bondarev joined BoS in 2014 and was responsible for covering ultra-high-net-worth clients from Russia and CIS. He lately relocated from Singapore to build up the European headquarters of BoS in Luxembourg.

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  • Bank of Singapore Nets Ex-UBS Wealth Planning Veteran

    Bank of Singapore Nets Ex-UBS Wealth Planning Veteran

    Bank of Singapore bolsters its business with the hire of a 30-year wealth planning veteran from UBS.

    Bank of Singapore hires Paul Chua as its global head of wealth planning, according to a statement, effective June 28 this year.

    In his Singapore-based role, Chua reports to global head of products Lim Leong Guan.

    Chua succeeds Tariq Salem who remains with the bank to focus exclusively on his role as head of structured solutions group.

    Chua has over 30 years of tax and wealth planning experience in advising ultrahigh net worth and multi-generational families on the structuring of their estate, succession, and wealth transfer strategies.

    He was most recently with UBS where he spent 19 years, last as its Singapore head of wealth planning.

    Aside from exemplary leadership qualities, Chua is known as an industry veteran who extends a personal touch when dealing with clients, said Lim, who also joined Bank of Singapore from UBS last year. We are confident that he will be a key addition to our wealth planning team to help develop deeper and more meaningful relationships with our clients.

    At a minimum net worth of $250 million, Bank of Singapore is increasingly focused on the family office segment which has seen clients onboarded triple in 2020 compared to 2019.

    The bank also hired Carrie Ng as head of single-family office advisory – a newly created role – in March this year and Joanna Ho as the Greater China and North Asia head of wealth planning last year.

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  • Citi Hires Ex-EY Partner for Asia Digital Payments

    Citi Hires Ex-EY Partner for Asia Digital Payments

    Citi has hired a former partner from Ernst & Young to lead the upcoming launch of a new digital payment solution in the region.

    James Lloyd joins the treasury and trade solutions (TTS) unit as its Asia Pacific head of Spring by Citi – upcoming digital payments offering – according to an internal memo.

    In his Hong Kong-based role, Lloyd reports to Sanjeev Jain, APAC head of payments and receivables, TTS, and Anupam Sinha, global head of domestic payments and Receivables, TTS.

    Lloyd joins from EY where he was a partner within the strategy and transactions practice, leading the firm’s dedicated regional fintech capabilities and serving as APAC leader for its global payments practice.

    Spring by Citi

    The Spring by Citi offering aims to help corporate and institutional clients reach end-customers by enabling digital payments across preferred methods, be it credit cards, instant payments or digital wallets.

    The offering is scheduled for launch in the fourth quarter this year starting with Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong before adding more markets in 2022.

    A spokesperson for the bank confirmed the new appointment.

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  • UOB Pilots Digital Signature Authorization

    UOB Pilots Digital Signature Authorization

    The initiative will remove one of the roadblocks – the need for physical signatures – in fully digitalizing the documentation process.

    UOB is starting a 12-month trial to test the use of Government Technology Agency’s (GovTech) Sign with Singpass among its retail and corporate customers, which will be used to confirm transactions such as individual wealth planning services and the PayNow Corporate application using a customer’s digital signature, the bank announced on Thursday.

    The features feature enables customers to use Singpass – the digital identity for Singapore residents that is identifiable and uniquely linked to the user – to sign electronic documents digitally via the Singpass app.

    The bank said it is pushing this innovation as research shows that COVID-19 has accelerated the move to online services, with more than 65 percent of customers expecting banking services to be digital by default.

    The change in customer expectations and experience during COVID-19 has made it imperative that we explore and extend our digital capabilities across more of our financial services and products, Susan Hwee, UOB head of group technology and operations, said in the announcement.

    UOB plans to expand the service to include more of its products and services for both the retail and wholesale segments in Singapore, and to expand its electronic signature capability to the region from 2022.

    One benefit from the move to e-signatures is its reduction of paper usage – more than 2 million multi-page hardcopy documents each year, which in turn will save more than 700 trees per year, once rolled out across its markets.

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  • Crypto Exchange Searches Blocked in China

    Crypto Exchange Searches Blocked in China

    Chinese users were reportedly unable to find results for popular cryptocurrency exchanges on major search engines in the country.

    Keyword searches for trading platforms such as Binance, OKEx and Huobi yielded no results, according to various media outlets.

    The searches were conducted on major search engines like Baidu, Sogou, Zhihu, and Weibo.

    This marks yet another sign of further tightening on cryptocurrencies, especially with regards to online content.

    Earlier this month, multiple popular Weibo accounts featuring related content were reportedly suspended or shut down over violation of the social media platform’s rules.

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  • Ex-J.P. Morgan Exec Joins UBS Private Markets Unit

    Ex-J.P. Morgan Exec Joins UBS Private Markets Unit

    UBS Global Wealth Management has hired a former J.P. Morgan executive to join its direct investment group.

    Edith Chan joins UBS Global Wealth Management as its Greater China head of direct investment group distribution, according to an internal memo effective June 21. A spokesperson for the bank confirmed the hire.

    Chan rejoins the Swiss bank after previously serving in a similar role as its Greater China head of private markets distribution. She was most recently with J.P. Morgan where she also focused on private markets between 2018 and 2020. She previously worked with various private banks and asset managers including HSBC Private Bank and Deutsche Bank.

    UBS’ direct investment group focuses on investing in private companies via direct participation in primary and secondary equity share placements.

    It is also active in private debt and credit placements as well as real estate and infrastructure funds.

    UBS sources such deals globally from its investment bank, asset manager, and network of blue-chip financial sponsors.

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  • UniCredit Hires from Commerzbank for Korea Coverage

    UniCredit Hires from Commerzbank for Korea Coverage

    Milan-headquartered UniCredit has bolstered its Asia business with the hire of a head of Korea coverage from Commerzbank.

    Jaeho Mike Hyun joins the Italian lender as its head of Korea coverage, according to a report from «GlobalCapital», to oversee financial institutions and corporate clients for the market.

    In his Hong Kong-based role, Hyun reports to Asia Pacific chief executive Michele Amadei.

    Hyun was most recently Commerzbank’s head of Korea coverage, capital markets, after joining the German lender in 2013. Previously, he had also worked for Deutsche Bank in Seoul and Singapore in both in asset management and debt capital markets origination.

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  • UOB Pilots Digital Signature Authorization

    UOB Pilots Digital Signature Authorization

    The initiative will remove one of the roadblocks – the need for physical signatures – in fully digitalizing the documentation process.

    UOB is starting a 12-month trial to test the use of Government Technology Agency’s (GovTech) Sign with Singpass among its retail and corporate customers, which will be used to confirm transactions such as individual wealth planning services and the PayNow Corporate application using a customer’s digital signature, the bank announced on Thursday.

    The features feature enables customers to use Singpass – the digital identity for Singapore residents that is identifiable and uniquely linked to the user – to sign electronic documents digitally via the Singpass app.

    The bank said it is pushing this innovation as research shows that COVID-19 has accelerated the move to online services, with more than 65 percent of customers expecting banking services to be digital by default.

    The change in customer expectations and experience during COVID-19 has made it imperative that we explore and extend our digital capabilities across more of our financial services and products, Susan Hwee, UOB head of group technology and operations, said in the announcement.

    UOB plans to expand the service to include more of its products and services for both the retail and wholesale segments in Singapore, and to expand its electronic signature capability to the region from 2022.

    One benefit from the move to e-signatures is its reduction of paper usage – more than 2 million multi-page hardcopy documents each year, which in turn will save more than 700 trees per year, once rolled out across its markets.

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  • Ex-J.P. Morgan Exec Joins UBS Private Markets Unit

    Ex-J.P. Morgan Exec Joins UBS Private Markets Unit

    UBS Global Wealth Management has hired a former J.P. Morgan executive to join its direct investment group.

    Edith Chan joins UBS Global Wealth Management as its Greater China head of direct investment group distribution, according to an internal memo, effective June 21.

    A spokesperson for the bank confirmed the hire.

    Chan rejoins the Swiss bank after previously serving in a similar role as its Greater China head of private markets distribution. She was most recently with J.P. Morgan where she also focused on private markets between 2018 and 2020. She previously worked with various private banks and asset managers including HSBC Private Bank and Deutsche Bank.

    UBS’ direct investment group focuses on investing in private companies via direct participation in primary and secondary equity share placements.

    It is also active in private debt and credit placements as well as real estate and infrastructure funds.

    UBS sources such deals globally from its investment bank, asset manager and network of blue-chip financial sponsors.

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  • HCMC stock exchange to test South Korean system

    HCMC stock exchange to test South Korean system

    Vietnam’s overloaded main bourse, the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, next week will begin testing a new system from South Korea which it plans to use later this year.

    The system would have the capability to handle “many times more” transactions than now, Le Hai Tra, CEO of the exchange, said.

    A temporary system from FPT, which has been tested in recent months to deal with the overload, would serve as a backup, he added.

    HoSE signed a deal for the system in 2012 with the Korea Exchange at a cost of VND600 billion ($26.16 million).

    But since last year South Korean experts could not come to Vietnam due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and so installation was delayed.

    A record number of new investors in recent times has placed an extreme strain on HoSE’s outdated system.

    The bourse increased the trading lot from 10 shares to 100 and instructed brokerages to stop order changes and cancelations to reduce the number of transactions.

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  • Taxes on securities up 320 pct

    Taxes on securities up 320 pct

    Capital gains taxes on securities surged 320 percent year-on-year in the first five months as new investors flocked to the stock market.

    They were one of the major contributors to personal income tax collection in the first five months, which rose by nearly 13 percent, Cao Anh Tuan, head of the General Department of Taxation, said.

    Vietnam imposes a flat 0.1 percent capital tax on every stock sale.

    Other contributors were real estate (up 183 percent) and personal investment (up 169 percent), Tuan added.

    In May, an average of 3,600 individual stock trading accounts was opened each day, the highest ever. The number of accounts now has risen 11-fold since January 2020 to 3.2 million, or one each for 3.26 percent of the population.

    In the first five months of this year, 480,000 accounts were opened.

    In the period, the benchmark VN-Index gained over 20 percent, the highest in Asia.

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  • StanChart Partners Templeton for Retirement Planning App

    StanChart Partners Templeton for Retirement Planning App

    Available on Google Play and Apple’s App Store, «Autumn» integrates wellness with wealth management on an independent and bank agnostic platform.

    SC Ventures, the innovation and ventures unit of Standard Chartered, has launched «Autumn», a digital wealth, health, and lifestyle solution that provides users with tools, products, and services to plan and manage their financial and physical wellbeing.

    As a strategic partner, Franklin Templeton will provide users with access to financial literacy content and investment insights, which can be customized based on risk profile and financial data. Autumn will also be bringing lifestyle partners on board, including travel services and volunteering opportunities.

    Standard Chartered highlighted that 15 percent of Asia’s population will be over the age of 65 by 2040, citing UN data, and the need for a bundled offering to address all their needs in a holistic and personalized manner.

    By combining digital wealth technology with health, lifestyle, and financial wellness, we’ll help users adopt healthier habits and create a retirement that is personalized for them, Mike Kruger, Autumn CEO, said in the announcement.

    Banks have been quick to capitalize on Asia’s greying population and heightened interest in wealth planning. Launches of similar platforms this year have included Julius Baer, which launched its digital wealth advisory platform in Asia in April, while DBS also rolled out a personal digital advisory to its financial planner.

    Standard Chartered itself debuted a free, do-it-yourself online financial planning app this year.

    Autumn is now available in Singapore, with plans underway to roll out the platform progressively in Hong Kong and other markets in Asia, Standard Chartered said.

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  • Hong Kong Explores Central Bank Digital Currency

    Hong Kong Explores Central Bank Digital Currency

    The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is exploring the feasibility of issuing a digital currency for the city, joining central banking efforts worldwide to create electronic money.

    A paper exploring the feasibility of issuing a retail-focused central bank digital currency (CBDC) will be delivered within 12 months, according to the HKMA at a recent media briefing.

    Issues that will be considered in the paper include potential use cases, data privacy, anti-money laundering standards, and more.

    In addition, HKMA officials also announced a new trial to explore how Hong Kong residents can top up a digital yuan wallet using the city’s local payment system.

    People are now a lot more used to digital payments and if other central banks are exploring possible use cases for CBDCs you have to try out to see whether you can make it successful, said HKMA chief executive Eddie Yue at the briefing.

    This marks the second stage of e-CNY trials in Hong Kong following a smaller scale trial also focused on the usage of digital yuan wallets in Hong Kong.

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