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Tag: Banking

  • 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.

  • Citi Appoints Senior China Corporate Banker

    Citi Appoints Senior China Corporate Banker

    Citi appoints a senior corporate banker for China, amid growing expansion in the mainland market.

    Luke Lu has been named head of corporates coverage for China, reporting to Citibank China CEO Christine Lam and APAC head of corporate banking Kaleem Rizvi.

    A spokesperson for the bank confirmed the new appointment.

    Lu has 20 years of banking experience and was most recently head of Citi Commercial Bank in China after rejoining the American lender in 2019. Previously, he was with MUFG Bank China where he was the head of its global corporate bank for two years.

    Lu’s appointment occurs in the midst of increasing growth at Citi’s corporate banking unit in China.

    According to the note, Citi is serving an increasing number of companies in the mainland market and last year alone, it raised over $30 billion for Chinese clients in global capital markets across debt and equity.

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  • UOB CEO Takes Pay Cut

    UOB CEO Takes Pay Cut

    His compensation in 2020 included an unchanged base salary of S$1.2 million, S$8.568 million bonuses, and S$37,000 in-kind benefits.

    Wee Ee Cheong, UOB’s deputy chairman, and CEO, received a total of S$9.805 million in 2020, down 8.8 percent from S$10.75 million in 2019, according to the bank’s annual report, published Wednesday.

    Some 60 percent of the variable pay will be deferred and vest over three years. Of the deferred portion, 40 percent will be in cash and the remaining 60 percent will be on the form of share-linked units, the report said.

    The bank posted earnings of S$2.92 billion ($2.21 billion) for the full year 2020 – 33 percent lower than 2019’s record earnings.

    Earlier this month DBS also said it would be cutting the payout of chief executive Piyush Gupta by 24 percent to S$9.18 million ($6.82 million) in 2020.

  • Vietnam stock market reaches new historic peak

    Vietnam stock market reaches new historic peak

    Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index surged 2.07 percent to a new historic peak of 1,216.10 points Thursday, driven by Vingroup and Vietcombank tickers.

    The index rose throughout the day after breaking the 2018 peak of 1,204 points in the morning. It continued to surge in the afternoon and ended with a near 25-point gain.

    This is its biggest daily gain in six weeks. The index has ended in the green four sessions in a row.

    Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, surged 16 percent to VND16.94 trillion ($735 million). The bourse saw 334 stocks gain and 106 lose.

    VIC of the biggest conglomerate Vingroup contributed most to the VN-Index gain with 4.6 points. The ticker rose 4.3 percent, its seventh gaining session in a row, up by a total 15 percent since March 23.

    VCB of state-owned lender Vietcombank pulled the index up by 2.1 points with volume tripling from Wednesday to rise 2.2 percent.

    Other major contributors included HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group, VHM of real estate giant Vinhomes and VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk, together pushing the index up by 4.4 points.

    The strongest blue-chip gainer was SSI of leading brokerage SSI Securities Corporation with a ceiling increase of 6.9 percent, followed by TCH of real estate company Hoang Huy Investment Financial Services JSC with a 5.9 percent gain.

    Foreign investors broke off four consecutive net selling sessions with a net buying value of VND45 billion. They focused on VIC, HPG and STB of Ho Chi Minh City-based lender Sacombank, which surged 17 percent in the last six sessions.

    The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, surged 2 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market added 0.37 percent.

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  • DBS Outlines China Strategy

    DBS Outlines China Strategy

    DBS will seek to further its expansion in mainland China with a focus on three areas: its securities joint venture, consumer finance and Greater Bay Area opportunities. DBS chief executive Piyush Gupta unveiled details about its China plan during the latest annual general meeting held virtually yesterday.

    We are convinced that China’s opening-up in the capital account is going to present tremendous opportunities, Gupta told shareholders.

    We’re already seeing some benefits of that, as institutional investors from China come out and international investors go into China. So that’s hopefully a big area of growth for us. According to Gupta, the bank’s new securities joint venture in China, announced last September, is expected to go to market in the coming few weeks.

    On consumer finance, the bank will also launch a wholly-owned business in China, in addition to its existing 15 percent ownership in a consumer finance joint venture with Postal Savings Bank of China.

    And on Greater bay Area, Gupta said DBS’ Hong Kong presence is expected to support deeper integration into the area with «good momentum» observed last year, especially from its supply chain solutions.

    Gupta also commented on DBS’ takeover of Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) last November and stressed that the deal was not a forced marriage.

    People have asked whether this was a forced marriage or if we were forced to do this deal,» he said, noting that the bank long had an interest in organic and inorganic expansion. This the last thing from a forced marriage.

    DBS highlighted an opportunity through the LVB takeover to accelerated its digital push in South India with an eye on two segments with huge opportunities: retail and small-to-medium-sized enterprise clients.

    Post-acquisition, the bank has added 125,000 corporate and 2 million retail customers with the latter figure boosting its retail share of deposits from 23 percent to 48 percent. Gupta also said that he expects no more incremental cost of credit from the LVB portfolio and expects the merged entity to become profitable in the next 12 to 24 months.

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  • Archegos Collapse Hits Japan’s Largest Bank

    Archegos Collapse Hits Japan’s Largest Bank

    More losses from the downfall of Bill Hwang’s Archegos Capital Management have been unveiled, this time from Japan’s largest bank. Mitsubishi UFJ Group’s (MUFG) securities arm faces losses of up to $300 million related to an unnamed U.S. client, according to a statement, through its European subsidiary.

    Losses could change depending on market prices and the unwinding of the transactions, though it isn’t expected to have a material impact on MUFG’s business capability or financial soundness.

    MUFG is taking all necessary steps to manage the risk and any effect on earnings will be reflected in the fiscal year starting April 1.

    The statement is widely believed to refer to the collapse of Bill Hwang’s family office Archegos and the latest hit to MUFG brings total global bank losses to as high as $6.3 billion.

    Nomura recently warned of around $2 billion in losses reportedly also believed to be linked to Archegos. Credit Suisse was also significantly impacted with estimated losses of $1 billion to $4 billion.

    Other banks involved, such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank, have claimed to see little to no impact. Wells Fargo was the latest to unveil its prime brokerage relationship with Archego but said it did not experience any related losses as the bank was well collateralized at the time and no longer has any exposure.

  • PGBank pulls plug on merger plans after 2nd debacle

    PGBank pulls plug on merger plans after 2nd debacle

    After calling off its merger with HDBank, lender PGBank does not plan to look for other partners and will remain independent, its chairman, Nguyen Quang Dinh, has said.

    “In the last six years, PGBank planned to merge with VietinBank and HDBank, but both deals were unsuccessful, which has been affecting the bank’s business.”

    “So the board of directors now aims to develop the bank as an independent entity,” he said at the lender’s annual general meeting on March 30.

    Shareholders approved rescindment of the merger plan, which never received approval from the State Bank of Vietnam.

    PGBank’s proposal to merge with state-owned VietinBank collapsed in 2014 after two years of negotiations.

    The bank targets a 46 percent rise in pre-tax profits this year to VND310 billion ($13.4 million).

    First-quarter profit was up 5 percent year-on-year to VND80 billion, according to its CEO, Nguyen Phi Hung.

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  • AXA IM Nabs Ex-Picet Asset Management Exec

    AXA IM Nabs Ex-Picet Asset Management Exec

    AXA Investment Managers hires a former executive from Pictet Asset Management as its Asia head of institutional sales. AXA IM has hired Carmen Lai as its head of institutional sales for Asia, according to a statement, reporting to APAC head of client group core Terence Lam in the Hong Kong-based role.

    Lai will oversee the development of AXA IM’s institutional business and client relationships in Asia, tasked initially to build a dedicated sales team for the North and Southeast Asia markets.

    Lai is a veteran in the asset management industry in the region, joining from Pictet Asset Management where she spent a decade, last as its Asia ex-Japan head of institutional sales. Previously, she also worked for Blackrock.

    In addition, AXA IM also appointed Kyle Wang as Asia head of sovereign and supranational Entities (SSE). Wang will report to Lam and work closely with Lai.

    Institutional clients remain a key focus for AXA IM’s Asian growth strategy, where we continue to see robust momentum, said Matt Lovatt, global head of client croup core and member of AXA IM’s management board.

    The enhanced team will reinforce the business coverage of AXA IM Core across the region, as we uphold our pledge to uncover global investment opportunities and offer active, long-term, and responsible investment solutions for our valued clients.

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