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Tag: Banking

  • Australian dollar back up

    Australian dollar back up

    The Australian dollar rebounded overnight and is buying 67.69 US cents Wednesday, up from 67.25 US cents on Tuesday.

    Yesterday, the local currency neared its decade low before rebounding. The Aussie dollar dipped to close to a recent 10-year low on weak retail sales figures.

    The Aussie dollar dipped as low as 66.88 US cents after the Australian Bureau of Statistics announced that retail spending fell by an unexpected 0.1 percent in July.

    But it later rebounded from that level – not far from a 10 and a half year low set of 66.77 cents set on August 7 – when the Reserve Bank of Australia announced in the afternoon that it would not to cut the cash rate for another month.

    It was buying 67.24 US cents at 1700 AEST, from 67.31 US cents on Monday.

    One Australian dollar buys 71.41 Japanese yen, from 71.46 yen ; 61.45 euro cents, from 61.28 cents ; 56.10 British pence, from 55.32 pence and 106.87 NZ cents, from 106.74 cents.

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  • DBS To Launch Retail Access To Robo-Based ETF Portfolios

    DBS To Launch Retail Access To Robo-Based ETF Portfolios

    DBS’ retail clients will gain access to its robo-platform «digiPortfolio» by year-end which will generate ETF portfolios designed by its wealth management arm.

    Retail investors will have access to portfolios constructed using exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by the end of the third quarter, the bank said in a release on Monday.

    The bank will launch two portfolios made of Singapore and UK-listed ETFs, allowing retail customers to tap the investment expertise of the bank’s wealth management team.

    Technology has helped us to avail some services to our retail clients that in the past was almost impossible to do so at affordable rates, said Jeremy Soo, DBS head of consumer banking group for Singapore, at a media briefing on Monday.

    DBS digiPortfolio was first launched in March this year with two portfolios offered only to DBS Treasures clients, who have assets under management of S$350,000 and above. In contrast, the new Asia portfolio is available to customers with no prior investment experience.

    The Asia Portfolio, which requires a minimum investment sum of S$1,000, offers Singapore Exchange (SGX)-listed ETFs, the first of such portfolio for the bank. It provides the investor with exposure to Singapore, China, and India. For investors seeking global diversification, they can opt for the Global Portfolio, which offers UK-listed ETFs for a minimum investment sum of S$1,000.

  • Hong Kong Loosens Fintech Lending

    Hong Kong Loosens Fintech Lending

    The Hong Kong Monetary Authority amended its credit risk management guidelines to encourage greater application of analytic tools when providing loans, in yet another move to further fintech development in the financial hub.

    As part of the HKMA’s Banking Made Easy Initiative, lenders are now allowed to further expand personal lending based on credit analytics tools, like big data analysis, to assess and approve applications. The guideline was issued in May 2018 and initially limited such types of lending but will now liberalize the market.

    Several AIs (authorized institutions) have since rolled out new retail credit products following the guidelines and the business has been operating smoothly, said HKMA’s executive director of banking supervision, Raymond Chan, in a note.

    In view of this latest development, the HKMA considers that it is no longer necessary to set an across-the-board limit applicable to all AIs on such lending (i.e. 10% of an AI’s capital base). Instead, the HKMA expects AIs intending to develop this business to set a limit of their own, which should be commensurate with their risk appetite and risk management capability.

    Fintech continues to grow as new regulatory and market developments are picking up momentum in the region.

    As a leading financial center, Hong Kong is undoubtedly competing for market share. For example, the «Banking Made Easy Initiative» was issued last year and involved a dedicated task force to help the industry “minimize regulatory frictions” in digital banking including remote onboarding, online finance and wealth management.

    Rival hub, Singapore, is also making inroads into the space with the regulators officially taking digital banking applications last week as hopefuls vie for one of the five licenses.

  • Maybank Considering Digital Banking License

    Maybank Considering Digital Banking License

    Maybank Singapore is considering to apply for one of the five digital banking licenses to be unveiled in Singapore. The final decision depends on having a value proposition.

    Maybank Singapore is in talks with its head office in Malaysia on the matter, and the bank’s decision lies in coming up with a new value proposition, said Alvin Lee, Head of Community Financial Services Singapore and Group Wealth Management, Maybank.

    The bank is open to all options are on the table, whether to go solo through the existing Internet-only bank framework, or to apply for the digital full-bank license, or the digital wholesale bank license with a partner. «We are definitely in internal discussions on whether we should be in or out,» said Lee, who was quoted.

    As Maybank’s current license already allows it to establish a digital bank, other factors such as finding the right partner to complement its strengths and weaknesses could be pivotal.

    «We can be the ‘fin’ and we look for a ‘tech’ partner – or something like that,» Lee said, adding that such partnership would require the bank to work with a regional player and not just one that operates solely in Singapore.

    Space Is Heating Up

    The digital full-bank license will allow it to provide a wide range of financial services and take deposits from retail customers, while the digital wholesale bank license will allow it to serve SMEs and other non-retail segments.

    With applications due to open by the end of this week, various non-bank players have signaled interest. They include tech unicorn Grab, fintech firm iFast Corporation, peer-to-peer lender Validus Capital, e-wallet player Liquid Group, and gaming firm Razer. Meanwhile, OCBC is in talks with Singtel on applying for a digital banking license.

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  • HSBC Offers Fee Cuts, Rebates to Support Hong Kong SMEs

    HSBC Offers Fee Cuts, Rebates to Support Hong Kong SMEs

    HSBC has announced a range of measures intended to help struggling businesses cope with challenges from the China-U.S. trade war and the anti-government protests in Hong Kong.

    As the Hong Kong economy is facing its worst crisis in a decade, HSBC has become the first bank to take action to help its small and medium enterprise customers by offering fee cuts and rebates.

    The bank and its subsidiary Hang Seng Bank are offering an interest rebate of up to HK$20,000 ($2,550) to SMEs that take out loans under SME Financing Guarantee Scheme and the SME Loan Guarantee Scheme for repayments made between March and August.

    At the same time, the bank is extending until June 30, 2022 its subsidy of up to HK$50,000 that is given to SMEs to pay for the fee for the government to back the loan. From September 2 until the end of the year, merchants will also enjoy lower fees for B2B transfers using HSBC’s PayMe platform as the bank has revised its fee to 0.75 percent, down from 1.5 percent.

    Protests Affecting Business

    Months of anti-government protests across Hong Kong have disrupted business and traffic, and caused a drop in tourist numbers to the special administrative territory and paralyzed shopping areas.

    According to HSBC, SMEs account for over 98 percent of local enterprises and around 45 percent of total employment. We have spent time listening to our customers and have heard their voices at this difficult time, Terence Chiu, the bank’s head of commercial banking for Hong Kong, was quoted by “SCMP” as saying.

    Countries including Singapore and the U.S. have issued advisories to defer non-essential travel to Hong Kong.

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  • Chinese shoppers can now use Alipay at the Mall of Asia

    Chinese shoppers can now use Alipay at the Mall of Asia

    Chinese consumers can now use Alipay at the Mall of Asia stores  thanks to a joint venture between Ant Financial Services and SM.

    Technology to allow retailers to accept Alipay has been installed at almost half the mall’s stores already, with the rest to follow within three to six months.

    Opening the way for Chinese to use Alipay at the Mall of Asia is aimed at attracting more tourists to the mall – as well as the increasing locally based Chinese population.

    “SM Mall of Asia is a must-visit shopping destination among tourists who enjoy the wide array of shopping and dining offerings and unique amenities,” said Cherry Huang, GM, cross-border business for South and Southeast Asia at Alipay.

    “We are happy to partner with SM Mall of Asia to deploy Alipay acceptance points in the mall for shoppers who are looking for the best of retail and lifestyle offerings and the same seamless shopping experiences that they enjoy at home. At the same time, we are very excited to help merchants in SM Mall of Asia connect with tourists before they’ve even arrived in the Philippines through our platform’s marketing capabilities.”

    Since Alipay entered the Philippines in 2017, the number of Alipay acceptance points has grown exponentially across retail, hospitality and entertainment attractions. Aside from Manila, Alipay acceptance points are available in six provinces frequented by Chinese tourists, including Cebu, Davao, Palawan and Boracay.

    According to the Philippines Department of Trade and Industry, international tourist arrivals to the Philippines rose by 7.7 per cent to 7.1 million visitors last year. China contributed 1.255 million of them, a growth rate of 30 per cent year on year.

    More than 3.12 million Chinese citizens have taken up residence in the Philippines since January 2016.

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  • UOB Opens Hanoi Branch

    UOB Opens Hanoi Branch

    The bank’s first branch outside Ho Chi Minh City comes a year after the incorporation of UOB (Vietnam), the bank’s Vietnam subsidiary.

    United Overseas Bank (UOB) has announced the opening of its first branch in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi, marking the bank’s first foray out of Ho Chi Minh City, where it has operated a representative office since 1993.

    Our new branch reflects our continued confidence in the country as we seek to serve more customers in both the northern and southern parts of Vietnam. It will enable us to connect customers to the opportunities that Vietnam offers and to support Vietnamese companies in seizing opportunities across ASEAN and further afield, Wee Ee Cheong, UOB deputy chairman and chief executive, said about the milestone in a press statement.

    UOB (Vietnam) CEO Harry Loh noted the significance of Hanoi as an important gateway for the country’s fast-growing northern cities.

    UOB was the first Singapore bank to open a branch in Vietnam in 1995. In 2017, UOB received a foreign-owned subsidiary bank (FOSB) licence from State Bank of Vietnam, which enabled it to extend its branch network beyond Ho Chin Minh City and to offer its products and financial solutions to businesses and consumers located in other cities.

    The bank said the new branch reflects UOB’s commitment to providing its financial services and solutions to more customers across the country.

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  • PayPal-Backed Digital Lenders Raise $110 Million

    PayPal-Backed Digital Lenders Raise $110 Million

    PayPal-backed digital lender Tala has raised another $110 million to enter the Indian market, increasing the firm’s total estimated value to more than $750 million.

    The five-year old California-headquartered startup specializes in digital lending, building credit profiles based on customer texts, call logs, merchant transaction, app usage and other behavioral data through an Android app. Loans can then be approved within minutes and the firm has lent over $1 billion to more than 4 million customers, up from $300 million and 1.3 million customers last year.

    The firm has raised over $215 million, according to a media report, and the latest round’s funds will be used to enter the India market. Prior to the launch, the firm conducted a 12-month pilot program to research the market and also set up a tech hub in Banglore.

    In addition to India, a portion of the funds will be used to expand to existing markets including East Africa, Mexico, and the Philippines and also build new solutions. Moving forward, Tala is also eyeing other markets in South Asia and Latin America.

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  • Goldman Sachs Seeking Control of Chinese JV

    Goldman Sachs Seeking Control of Chinese JV

    In the application submitted to regulators, Goldman said it would absorb the securities sales, trading and research operations currently sit in the business of its partner in the joint venture.

    Goldman Sachs has applied to Chinese regulators for approval to gain majority control of the firm’s investment banking joint venture in China, as part of a plan to eventually gain full control of its China business.

    A spokesman at the bank confirmed to Reuters that Goldman applied to the China Securities Regulatory Commission to increase its stakes in Goldman Sachs Gao Hua Securities to the maximum 51 percent, up from the current 33 percent.

    The other shareholder in the joint venture, which focuses on equity and debt capital markets and mergers advisory, is Beijing Gao Hua Securities, controlled by Chinese banker Fang Fenglei and Legend Holdings.

    Until recently, foreign banks weren’t allowed to hold a majority stake in a joint venture in China. If approved, Goldman would join HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Nomura and UBS in owning controlling stakes in their onshore joint ventures in the country. Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse are currently awaiting approval for majority control.

    China in recent years has indicated its desire to speed up the liberalization of its $44-trillion financial sector. In 2018, the country’s banking regulator removed the limits on foreign ownership of Chinese lenders and bad debt managers.

    In May, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission announced plans to eliminate single shareholder limits for local banks, and allow foreign financial firms to buy shares in foreign insurers in China, among other measures.

    In July, Premier Li Keqiang said the country would lift the financial sector foreign ownership cap one year ahead of schedule and allow majority stakes in insurance and securities and commodities futures businesses .

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  • Swiss Fintechs to Showcase Expertise at Singapore Fintech Festival

    Swiss Fintechs to Showcase Expertise at Singapore Fintech Festival

    Switzerland Global Enterprise and the Swiss Business Hub ASEAN announced that they will showcase the best of the country’s fintech ecosystem and expertise under its Swiss Pavilion in the upcoming Singapore FinTech Festival 2019.

    Returning for the third year, the Swiss Pavilion will host close to 30 companies involved in cutting-edge innovation in financial services technologies that encompass regulation technology, blockchain solutions, Big Data and analytics, algorithm trading and cybersecurity among others. The Swiss Pavilion, one of the larger national pavilions taking part at the Singapore festival, will present opportunities for co-innovation, collaborations, partnerships, and deal-making.

    The Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE) is pleased to showcase the Swiss ecosystem of top financial institutions and leading Fintech players at the Singapore Fintech Festival 2019.  As one of the Top 10 Financial Centres of the world, Switzerland offers the ideal combination of dense and diverse ecosystem in the fintech space, a regulator addressing the needs of the industry and a great pool of talents to create new solutions for the future, said Patrik Wermelinger, Member of the Executive Committee of Switzerland Global Enterprise.

    Besides demonstrating the expertise of Swiss companies to international audiences, the other goal of the Swiss Pavillion is to enable Swiss fintechs to use Singapore as a hub to grow in the Southeast Asia (ASEAN) region, Wermelinger added.

    Interest from Swiss fintech enterprises in Singapore has been growing rapidly. Over the past few years, we have seen escalating interest from Swiss fintech companies to spread their winds into ASEAN using Singapore as a hub.  There is potential for more Swiss-Singapore exchanges and it is my wish to see more of such collaborations.  Together, we can explore more markets and help the financial institutions grow rapidly, said H.E. Fabrice Filliez, Switzerland’s Ambassador to Singapore.

    Switzerland is home to over 1,000 fintech companies, deeply active in Investment Management, Payment solutions, Banking infrastructure and Deposit & Lending. Their interest to a greater presence in Singapore arises from the republic’s fintech cooperation framework and agreements with ASEAN, China, India, Japan, and South Korea.

    Singapore’s annual FinTech Festival is organized by MAS, in partnership with The Association of Banks in Singapore, and in collaboration with SingEx Holdings. The 4th edition of the Singapore FinTech Festival will attract a global array of speakers and exhibitors.

    The upcoming event will carry four major underlying themes that are driving the financial ecosystem: Sustainability and Climate Finance; Future of Finance; Exponential Technologies and FinTech and Beyond.

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  • Bank of Singapore Expands UHNW Shelf with Senior Hire

    Bank of Singapore Expands UHNW Shelf with Senior Hire

    Continued growth from its ultra-high net worth clients business has led Bank of Singapore to bolster its product capabilities with the addition of a new head of bespoke investments for Greater China and North Asia.

    Kelvin Teo joins the bank in the new Hong Kong-based role to source unique and exclusive investment opportunities for UHNW clients in Greater China and North Asia, particularly with regards to buyout funds and real estate. Teo reports locally to Derrick Tan, Hong Kong branch CEO and global market head of Greater China and North Asia; and functionally to Carolyn Tham, head of UHNW bespoke investments.

    Teo was most recently a Hong Kong-based director of equity capital markets for Credit Suisse. He was responsible for the origination of capital market transaction for corporate and institutional clients. Previously, he had 15 years of experience in investment banking across various areas including IPO, pre-IPO financing, acquisition financing and more.

    Since 2017, the bank’s number of UHNW clients has doubled and assets from the client segment grew nearly 40 percent. The UHNW segment aside, Bank of Singapore is also boosting its Greater China business, which reportedly nearly tripled assets under management in five years.

    Teo’s hire follows a number of senior appointments for the regional business including the hire of Richard Hu earlier this year as market head for Greater China. Last year, the bank also hired Phonda Chan and Anne Song as market heads, alongside Jacqueline Lee as head of risk.

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  • Greater China Earnings Contribution Triples Says OCBC

    Greater China Earnings Contribution Triples Says OCBC

    Since OCBC’s acquisition of Hong Kong lender Wing Hang Bank in 2014, it has managed to realize synergies and significantly grow its Greater China business with the region’s earnings share tripling from six percent to nearly one-fifth.

    Earnings contributions from Greater China grew from 208 million Singapore dollars ($150 million) in 2013-end (representing six percent of OCBC Group’s total earnings) to $748 million in 2018-end, now making up 19 percent of total earnings, according to figures released by the group last week.

    Headline growth figures in this period include a more than tripling of operating profits, income and wealth management assets under management. Its total client base in the region across all banking segments grew a colossal 19 times from 28,000 to more than half a million.

    OCBC credits a large part of its growth to the Wing Hang acquisition it made in 2014 for reported 38.4 billion Hong Kong dollars ($4.9 billion), which was since newly named OCBC Wing Hang.

    OCBC Wing Hang’s profits grew from $257 million in 2014-end to $419 million in 2018-end, representing a 1.6-fold increase in the four full fiscal years since the acquisition. Whilst this lags behind the group’s overall Greater China growth, the bank notes that there are other synergies realized that are not necessarily reflected in the subsidiary alone.

    According to the bank, it has managed to capitalize on economic growth in Greater China and the increased connectivity between North and Southeast Asia. Its access to a broader funding base led to an expansion of its product capabilities (OCBC Group’s loan assets grew 2.4 times from 2013-end to 2018-end).

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  • HSBC Singapore Adds Directors to Board

    HSBC Singapore Adds Directors to Board

    The two new board members will help the bank accelerate its business transformation in Singapore and deepen its foray into the digital space.

    HSBC Bank (Singapore), the local subsidiary of HSBC that includes retail banking and wealth management businesses, is adding Penny Goh and Josh Bottomley to its board of directors, the firm said in a press release on Wednesday.

    Goh is a co-chairman and senior partner of Allen & Gledhill, and leads the law firm’s corporate real estate practice. With the appointment, she will become a member of HSBC Singapore’s Audit and Risk committees. Bottomley is HSBC’s global head of Digital, Retail Banking and Wealth Management, a role he has held since May 2013. He has also held various senior appointments at Google and LexisNexis.

    HSBC said in June 2018 that Singapore was one of eight priority markets globally. In September 2018, HSBC Singapore said it would double the overall combined retail and private banking total wealth and hire more than 400 retail and private banking customer-facing employees over five years.

    Singapore is a growth market for HSBC and one where we want to build scale, and both appointments have a very strong and significant connection in support of delivering the strategy, Mukhtar Hussain, HSBC Singapore chairman and HSBC’s Asia Pacific head for Belt and Road Initiative, said about the appointments.

    Together, both will bring a very strong blend of experience, expertise and ambition in the oversight of HSBC’s Retail Banking and Wealth Management business in Singapore. Moreover, the appointment of such high-caliber individuals reflects the importance and rising prominence of the Singapore franchise for HSBC globally, Hussain added.

    Earlier this month, HSBC CEO John Flint, 51, announced his sudden departure after being at the helm for only 18 months, saying the bank needed a change at the top to address the «challenging global environment.» In the meantime, Noel Quinn, HSBC’s head of global commercial banking is holding the role of interim CEO.

  • Standard Chartered in Hiring Push to Grow Private Banking

    Standard Chartered in Hiring Push to Grow Private Banking

    The bank is on a recruitment spree in Hong Kong and Singapore as it hopes to increase its private banking assets by 50 percent to $100 million in the next three to five years.

    The U.K.-based bank will be hiring 30 to 40 private bankers per year in Hong Kong and Singapore, where it derives most of its revenue, to bolster its 300-strong team of relationship managers over the next two to three years as it hopes to grow its private banking assets to $100 billion from $65 billion currently.

    That makes us meaningful internally for the group, that makes us a meaningful player in this landscape. Hitting $100 billion can give us credibility internally, help us to attract talent, Standard Chartered’s global head for private banking and wealth management, Didier von Daeniken, said in an interview.

    Competition for the region’s growing number of ultra-high net worth (UNHW) and high net worth individuals is stiff. Standard Chartered’s $65 billion in private banking assets trails global powerhouses UBS’ $2.3 trillion and Credit Suisse’s $770 billion, but the unit plans to leverage the bank’s corporate and institutional clients in Asia and other emerging markets where it has existing banking networks to hit the $100 billion mark, the report noted.

    Standard Chartered’s private banking business targets individuals with at least $5 million in investable assets. The unit makes up for only 3.8 percent of Standard Chartered’s total profit before tax for the first half of 2019, Reuters reported. But $100 million, this represents a marked improvement from a $5-million loss for the same period the year before.

  • HSBC Greater China CEO Exits

    HSBC Greater China CEO Exits

    Shifts in senior personnel continue with the latest resignation of HSBC’s head of Greater China who leaves after 27 years with the British lender.

    Helen Wong exits the bank to pursue external opportunities, according to an HSBC spokesperson who added that her July decision to leave the bank had no links with the recent exit of global CEO John Flint.

    Wong began her 27-year HSBC career in 1992 and took over the newly created role of Greater China chief in 2015. Following Wong’s exit, the role will no longer exist and the three individual segments, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, would be run by their own market heads.

    Our growth strategy in China is unchanged. HSBC has been steadfast in its commitment to China for over 150 years, the spokesperson said. We will continue to support China’s growth and economic prosperity going forward.

    Wong’s exit occurs amid numerous shuffles at the HSBC’s senior levels and a drive to cut more than 4,000 jobs globally. But jobs are not the only headline issue, especially in the region where existing headwinds already include an ongoing trade war and unrest in Hong Kong.

    Tensions between the bank and China have risen recently due to allegations that HSBC provided information that helped US prosecutors build a case against Huawei and its CFO, Meng Wanzhou. The bank has been lobbying to convince China that it was not responsible for Meng’s arrest and insisted that the U.S. Department of Justice had applied great pressure to share information.

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