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Tag: Banking

  • Natixis Expands Global Markets Unit in APAC

    Natixis Expands Global Markets Unit in APAC

    Natixis has made a series of hires for its global markets team in Asia Pacific with a focus on bolstering its capabilities in China and Japan.

    The French investment bank made six new appointments to its APAC global markets unit, according to a statement, as part of its ongoing growth ambitions in the region.

    China and Japan are key geographies for our global markets business and these new appointments to bolster our sales teams will allow us to deepen our client dialogue and enhance our focused development of new activities and products, said APAC head of global markets Viet Linh Ha Thuc.

    Eddison An joins the Hong Kong office as global market sales for China reporting to Greater China head of global markets sales Kirk Liu. An has 19 years of global market sales experience and was most recently the China head of credit sales at Deutsche Bank.

    Marcus Teng joins the Shanghai office as China head of corporate sales for the global markets unit, reporting to Liu and locally to Greater China senior country manager Hong Liu. Teng has 14 years of experience, most recently with ANZ Bank as a director in global markets.

    Beijing-based Jason Lee was named corporate sales for China reporting to Teng and locally to Beijing branch manager Simon Qin. Lee has 20 years of financial advisory and acquisition finance experience most recently also with ANZ Bank.

    Michael Man joins the Hong Kong office as global market sales reporting to APAC head of sales and financial engineering Eric Elbaz. Man has over ten years of experience in prime services and securities finance, most recently with BNP Paribas.

    Hiroshi Hara was named Tokyo-based regional fixed income sales reporting to head of regional financial institutions sales Kazuoki Shirase. Hara has 24 years of banking experience most recently with Nattiest Markets Securities Japan where he was its head of solutions sales for the country.

    Satoshi Harada joins in Tokyo as flow product sales reporting to Hirofumi Satoi, global markets sales, Japan. Harada has 8 years of banking and financial experience, most recently with Société Générale Securities Japan.

  • Global Banks Vie for Citi’s Asia Consumer Business

    Global Banks Vie for Citi’s Asia Consumer Business

    Two of Singapore’s «big three» lenders are said to be interested in acquiring parts of Citi’s consumer business, which is downsizing worldwide.

    DBS Group, OCBC, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) and Standard Chartered intend to bid parts of the bank’s consumer banking portfolios and brances in Asia, citing sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

    The sale process will start within a couple of weeks, the sources said. The businesses Citi is exiting had $82 billion in total assets and were allocated $7 billion in tangible common equity last year, Citi said.

    Last week, Citi announced its intention to exit its consumer banking business in 13 markets, 10 of which are in Asia: Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

    The bank said it intends to «double down on wealth» as it focuses its consumer banking franchise in Asia and EMEA solely through its four wealth centers: Singapore, Hong Kong, UAE, and London.

    DBS, which operates a fully owned subsidiary in India, is said to be interested in Citi’s business there, which includes retail deposits, mortgages and credit cards. Standard Chartered and local lenders Kotak Mahindra Bank and Axis Bank are also said to be interested, which SBI Cards and Payment Services is eyeing Citi’s credit card portfolio there.

    DBS has always been open to exploring sensible bolt-on opportunities in markets where we have a consumer banking franchise (China, India, Indonesia and Taiwan), a bank spokesperson said.

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  • StanChart Expands Hiring Efforts in Hong Kong

    StanChart Expands Hiring Efforts in Hong Kong

    Standard Chartered plans to hire about 400 staff in Hong Kong this year as part of the ongoing expansion of its retail baking and wealth management business.

    The Asia-focused lender’s hiring plans are part of its strategy to tap demand from affluent customers for wealth planning, according to a report citing Hong Kong head of consumer, private, and business banking Lay Choo Ong.

    In addition to hiring, Standard Chartered is also planning to invest $26 million over the next three years to revamp its branches in the city.

    The bank will look to add, relocate and close various branches with the aim of maintaining 70 in the city, according to a previous announcement by Hong Kong CEO Mary Huen.

    Although branch visits at Standard Chartered fell 25 percent during the pandemic, the bank believes that demand remains for customers seeking to discuss more complex financial needs.

    It is planning to open its second «Priority Private Center» in the city this year as well as three green branches for paperless services, likely in the third or fourth quarter, as part of a pilot project.

    According to Ong, assets under management in Hong Kong-registered double-digit growth in the first quarter while wealth management fund flows doubled the annual average in 2020.

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  • DBS Targets Zero Thermal Coal Exposure

    DBS Targets Zero Thermal Coal Exposure

    As part of its efforts to support the transition to a low-carbon future, the bank has set a target of 2039 to cut its thermal coal exposure to zero.

    DBS, Southeast Asia’s largest bank, has announced plans to reach its goal of zero thermal coal exposure by 2039, and will focus instead on the development of renewables, according to a statement on Friday.

    The bank will stop onboarding new customers that derive more than 25 percent of their revenue from thermal coal with immediate effect, and stop financing customers that derive more than half their revenue from thermal coal from January 2026. These thresholds will also be lowered over time, DBS said.

    DBS will use its sustainable and transition finance framework to help sectors reliant on thermal coal to transition.

    Every year counts in the journey towards a low-carbon future and we recognize the increasing need for transition financing to help industries gradually navigate away from brown to green, Tan Su Shan, DBS group head of institutional banking, said.

    Tan said the bank hopes to help energy players in the region scale the reach and supply of renewable energy in the near future.

    In 2020, DBS grew its exposure to renewable energy projects to S$4.2 billion ($3.15 billion), up from S$2.85 billion the year before.

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  • Ex-UBS Chief Sergio Ermotti Shifts from Banker to Statesman

    Ex-UBS Chief Sergio Ermotti Shifts from Banker to Statesman

    Less than six months after leaving UBS, ex-CEO Sergio Ermotti is now chairman of the world’s largest reinsurer. He signaled he will use the job as a platform to lobby for Switzerland as a business center.

    The former CEO of UBS, Sergio Ermotti, had promised a blackout after leaving the Swiss wealth manager at the end of October. He resurfaced publicly on Friday, when 96.4 percent of Swiss Re investors backed him as the reinsurer’s next chairman, after a year of understudying with long-standing overseer Walter Kielholz.

    In my new role, I look forward to advocating for Switzerland as an attractive location for the insurance industry,» the 60-year-old Ticino native told shareholders in an annual meeting held online. Insurance represents as much of Swiss gross domestic product as Switzerland’s heavyweight banking sector, and also a more consistent one.

    Nearly every eleventh Swiss franc in Switzerland is generated by the wider financial industry, according to data compiled by research institute BAK Economics. Insurance alone generates 30.5 billion Swiss francs ($33 billion) annually, according to BAK.

    Switzerland is the world’s third-largest location for reinsurance, Ermotti said – and he plans to use his new job to help make sure it stays that way. «That is why Swiss Re is actively engaged in ensuring that the Swiss financial center remains attractive and internationally competitive» in terms of framework conditions, the banker-turned-overseer said.

    He’s earning far less than at UBS, where he regularly topped league tables as Europe’s highest-paid banker and left on a 13.3 million franc payday high. He earned just 151,000 francs for 2020 after his election last April; by comparison, Kielholz took home 3.8 million francs.

    Ermotti remains a big UBS investor, with more than 4 million shares to his name (it translates to less than 0.3 percent of voting rights over the Swiss giant) – likely not including a big personal bet. His extracurricular activities include chairing the family’s Lugano-based Fondazione Ermotti and serving on the Swiss-American chamber of commerce’s board.

    While at UBS, he was widely viewed as sincere in his concern for Switzerland and its financial center when commenting on Swiss political matters of economic and business relevance, like immigration. Ermotti, who began his career in finance as an apprentice at Cornèr Bank in Lugano in 1975, is also on the board of the Global Apprenticeship Network – and a SPAC backer.

    The banking veteran spent the bulk of his career abroad including in London as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. The Swiss Re move represents the culmination of what Ermotti reportedly couldn’t clinch at UBS: the chairman’s seat. At the Swiss bank, long-standing chairman Axel Weber looks set to extend his tenure, instead of exiting next April.

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  • Citi Names Wealth Co-Heads for Asia Pacific

    Citi Names Wealth Co-Heads for Asia Pacific

    Citi made a raft of new appointments to its wealth management unit including the promotion of its Asia head of private banking.

    Citi named Steven Lo co-head of the wealth unit in the region alongside APAC head of retail banking Fabio Fontainha, according to an internal memo.

    Lo was named Asia head of the private bank in 2017, succeeding ex-head Bassam Salem.

    The bank also appointed Ida Liu – most recently head of the private bank in North America – as the global head of private banking, overseeing the bank’s private capital group, global trust, and private bank global marketing operations.

    Other notable appointments for the wealth business include chief operating officer Eduardo A. Martinez Campos and chief of staff Running Du.

    Chief investment officer and global head of investments David Bailin will form a group that combines investment teams from the private bank and consumer bank globally.

    Head of investment finance for the private bank Giuliano Malacarne will expand his remit and coordinate the delivery of banking and lending products to wealthy clients.

    The appointments coincide with the bank’s reorganization of its wealth business to encompass the full spectrum from emerging affluent to high net worth clients.

    Our clients are looking for more — whether it’s access to investment opportunities and advice, tools and analytics, a focus on environmental, social and governance concerns or more engaging digital experiences, said Jim O’Donnell, Citi’s head of global wealth in the memo.

  • StanChart Wealth Planning App Debuts in Singapore

    StanChart Wealth Planning App Debuts in Singapore

    The bank joins other players in providing digital wealth advisory with its new SC Goals Planner app, now available on SC Online Banking and SC Mobile.

    Standard Chartered has launched a free, do-it-yourself online financial planning solution developed in collaboration with Singapore-based fintech BetterTradeOff, which advanced leverages data analytics for clients to make data-led decisions when it comes to wealth planning, the bank announced in Wednesday.

    The SC Goals Planner app allows customers will be able to independently plan and track their financial goals through real-life simulations and insights specific to their life stages and financial status. Users will also be able to educate themselves on the planning process and financial fundamentals, the announcement said.

    Banks have been quick to capitalize on the heightened interest in wealth planning – Julius Baer also launched its digital advisory platform in Asia this week, while DBS rolled out personal digital advisory to its financial planner last week.

    Standard Chartered said there has been more interest in better financial planning as a result of the pandemic. Through the platform, Standard Chartered hopes to close the financial literacy gap and empower clients to play a more active role in their financial planning.

    This is one of the many steps we are taking to strengthen the client-bank wealth and financial planning dialogue, Eugene Puar, head of wealth management, Singapore, ASEAN and South Asia said.

    Singapore-based BetterTradeOff (BTO) was founded in 2015 and offers a software-as-a-service (SaaS) life planning tool to clients through a white-label enterprise solution. It currently operates in Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, UAE, and Switzerland.

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  • HSBC Swims Against Crypto Tide

    HSBC Swims Against Crypto Tide

    The bank banned customers of its online trading platform InvestDirect from adding MicroStrategy stock to their portfolios, calling them a «virtual currency product.

    HSBC has no appetite for direct exposure to virtual currencies [VCs] and limited appetite to facilitate products or securities that derive their value from VCs,» a HSBC spokesperson said in a statement.

    Last week, a message from the bank to InvestDirect customers dated March 29 surfaced on social media, saying that it will only allow the holding, sale and outgoing transfer of MicroStrategy shares, and will ban new purchases or incoming transfers.

    MicroStrategy, a business intelligence and cloud-based software company founded in 1989 by bitcoin evangelist Michael Saylor, currently holds about $5.5 billion in bitcoin, or about 80 percent of its $6.8 billion market capitalization.

    The company adopted a policy last year to primarily hold bitcoin instead of cash, and has been purchasing the cryptocurrency with its extra cash and paying its directors in BTC.

    HSBC said the ban on MicroStrategy follows its policy on cryptocurrencies, which has been in place since 2018. Its move comes against the growing number of financial firms and companies that are embracing cryptocurrencies.

    Other companies that also have large holdings of bitcoin on their balance sheets include carmaker Tesla and payments processor Square, though it is not clear if a similar ban would apply to their shares.

    Goldman Sachs has said it would offer investments in bitcoin and other digital assets to its wealth clients, while Morgan Stanley will roll out a bitcoin offering to wealth management clients.

    Outside of the U.S., notable global banks that have also launched crypto offerings include Standard Chartered and DBS.

    MicroStrategy shares soared on Tuesday, up about 18 percent to $848.5, as the price of bitcoin reached a new high of $63,000, 7 percent higher than the day before.

    The surge in investor interest comes ahead of a hotly anticipated direct listing of CoinBase, the U.S.’ largest cryptocurrency exchange, on Nasdaq on Wednesday.

  • Chinese Banks Accelerate Branch Cuts

    Chinese Banks Accelerate Branch Cuts

    Chinese lenders are increasingly closing down branches as online and mobile banking penetration continues to rise.

    Mainland lenders have closed 430 branches in the first three months of 2021, according to data from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission’s (CBIRC) annual report.

    This marks an accelerated reduction after the industry closed 1,300 branches in 2020.

    As a major leader by digital penetration of its population, China saw strong growth for transactions not executed via physical bank locations – or «off-counter rates.

    Such transactions, which include online and mobile banking, rose 12 percent to 2,308 trillion yuan ($352.5 trillion), according to the CBIRC report.

    Mobile banking transactions alone soar 31 percent to 439.2 trillion yuan – nearly one-fifth of total off-counter transactions.

    In addition to growing digital adoption, the branch cuts are part of a broader industry move to reduce costs especially after a year of concessions where borrowers were offered cheap loans, deferred payment options, and top Beijing officials even called for a 1.5 trillion yuan sacrifice of profits.

    Mainland lenders are also rebalancing the mix of their remaining branch network with a focus on maintaining brick-and-mortar locations in counties or rural areas as part of Beijing’s goal to promote financial inclusion.

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  • ABBank seeks to hike capital through rights issuances of shares

    ABBank seeks to hike capital through rights issuances of shares

    ABBank plans to increase its charter capital by 65 percent to VND9.4 trillion ($407 million) through rights issuances of shares to existing shareholders.

    There will be two issuances, one each in the second and third quarters of this year, the Hanoi-based lender said in a plan it outlined to shareholders.

    The bank, established in 1993, plans to use the money raised for expansion and ensuring capital adequacy.

    It targets increasing pre-tax profits by 44 percent this year to VND1.97 trillion. It achieved 10 percent profit growth last year.

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  • StanChart Names Global Head of Private Banking

    StanChart Names Global Head of Private Banking

    Standard Chartered has hired a former UBS executive to oversee its private and affluent banking business worldwide.

    Raymond Ang has been named global head of private and priority banking at the Asia-focused British lender, according to a statement, pending regulatory approval.

    In the Singapore-based role, Ang reports to consumer, private, and business banking chief executive Judy Hsu.

    Ang has 25 years of experience across consumer and private banking and lived in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, and Singapore. Ang was most recently with UBS where he spent nine years, last as its sector head for Indonesia, Greater China, and offshore Japan. Previously, he also worked for Carlyle, DBS, and Citi.

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  • UOB Names Sustainability Chief

    UOB Names Sustainability Chief

    UOB appoints a chief sustainability officer in yet another industrywide move towards expanding the green finance market.

    Eric Lim has been named as the Singapore bank’s CSO, according to a statement, as an extension to his existing role as head of group finance.

    Lim also joins UOB’s management committee and reports directly to deputy chairman and CEO Wee Eee Cheong.

    Lim’s new responsibilities include ensuring «synergies» between the bank’s sustainability strategy and financial performance management.

    He is also the chairperson of UOB’s group environmental, social and governance (ESG) committee which is tasked with

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  • Standard Chartered Grows Digital Payments Proposition

    Standard Chartered Grows Digital Payments Proposition

    The bank is doubling down on its commitment to the payments industry with its investment in a global cross-border payments platform. SC Ventures, the innovation, ventures and fintech investments unit of Standard Chartered bank, has made a strategic investment in Ireland-based CurrencyFair, it announced in a statement.

    As a result of the investment, CurrencyFair will merge with Assembly Payments, an Australia-based platform that automates complex payment workflows, which is invested into in 2020. The combined entity will offer the full range of payment services, providing retail and corporate clients access to fast, high-volume domestic and cross-border payments, the announcement said.

    The announcement highlighted a $2 trillion revenue market for payments, citing figures by McKinsey & Company, as well as an increasingly complex global cross-border business payments market.

    Paul Byrne, CEO of CurrencyFair, will lead the merged business, which will focus on payments, global payment accounts, partner ecosystem, lending and settlement, and services.

  • DBS Trims Office Space in Singapore

    DBS Trims Office Space in Singapore

    DBS is the latest global bank to offload more office space, this time in a Singapore building where it is the anchor tenant. DBS will give up about two and a half floors out of the more than a dozen floors it occupies at Tower 3 of the Marina Bay Financial Centre, according to a report citing unnamed sources. Singapore’s largest lender is set to surrender the space, which totals 75,000 square feet, in December.

    DBS joins other global banks that are shifting their operational models by reducing office space and increasing flexible working measures.

    In Singapore, Citi is offloading three floors and Mizuho is cutting less than one floor of office space.

    In Hong Kong, DBS has also dropped eight floors of office space joining the likes of BNP Paribas, Standard Chartered and UBS.

    DBS’ reduction of office space falls in line with its announced strategy to provide flexible working conditions for its staff.

    In November, the bank said that remote working would be allowed for employees as much as 40 percent of the time.

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  • HDBank profit up 87 pct

    HDBank profit up 87 pct

    HDBank reported a 67 percent increase year-on-year in consolidated profit in the first quarter to over VND2 trillion ($86.9 million).

    Its outstanding loans at the end of the quarter were VND198 trillion, up 5 percent from the end of last year. The parent bank’s profit was VND1.8 trillion, up 87.7 percent. The lender also owns consumer finance company HD SAISON.

    It targets full-year profits of VND7.28 trillion, an increase of 25 percent from 2020, and credit growth of 26 percent. It plans to pay a 25 percent dividend for 2020 in the form of stocks.

    HDBank is among the few banks that have not signed an exclusive bancassurance contract.

    The bank recorded VND5.8 trillion in consolidated profit last year, a year-on-year increase of 15.9 percent.