Retail News CRM

Tag: Banking

  • Deutsche Bank woes may lead to job cuts in Singapore

    Deutsche Bank woes may lead to job cuts in Singapore

    The problems at Germany’s largest lender, Deutsche Bank, which has seen its share price tumble to record lows on concerns of a looming US$14 billion (S$19 billion) fine by US authorities, could raise questions over the fate of some of its 2,100-strong workforce in Singapore, analysts said on Monday (Oct 3).

    “For the German bank, the impact of negative interest rates and slower growth have affected profitability. As for the impact here in Singapore… we might find a possibility of the bank reducing headcount,” said CIMB Private Banking economist Song Seng Wun.

    “The knock-on impact on Singapore would be pressure on the labour market in the finance sector. The tough labour market within finance may get tougher,” he added.

    Singapore has been Deutsche Bank’s Asia-Pacific head office since 1988, after the lender first established a presence in the city-state in 1971, its corporate website showed. It has a wholesale banking licence here and its business lines including corporate & investment banking, global markets, asset management, and wealth management.

    When asked about possible job cuts at the Singapore office, a spokesperson for Deutsche bank said: “Singapore is and will continue to be a key hub for Deutsche Bank in Asia-Pacific, a region which delivered 14 per cent year-on-year revenue growth last year and remains a core part of our global network.”

    Deutsche Bank shares plummeted to a record low of 9.90 euros last week and were trading at 11.45 euros mid-afternoon in Frankfurt on Monday. The bank has been battling rumours that the German government may have to come up with a rescue plan in case it cannot pay the staggering fine imposed by US regulators for mis-selling mortgage-backed securities before the global financial crisis. The fine is more than twice the provision it had set aside for litigation.

    Deutsche Bank last October unveiled a sweeping plan to restore its finances, including eliminating 9,000 jobs or about 9 per cent of the global workforce, including 4,000 positions in Germany. However, unlike Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, a qualifying full bank which has slashed about 400 jobs in Singapore over the past year, any headcount reduction at Deutsche Bank here won’t likely to be as drastic, analysts said.

    “Deutsche Bank’s business in Singapore has… little retail exposure; it does more private and investment banking. The bank is still geographically strong in Singapore. It is a significant player here and would be more distant from the issues faced at the German headquarters,” said KGI Securities (Singapore) trading strategist Nicholas Teo.

    UOB economist Francis Tan said: “There will be some impact, maybe small cuts but not likely to be big for the bank. Asia is still rising, so even if there are cuts it would be more on the European side. Looking at the relative growth rates this area has compared to the Western world, it would not be a good move to cut a lot of jobs. You don’t want to kill the golden goose.”

    Global banks have been slashing headcount in the Republic against the backdrop of weak economic outlook and stricter capital rules. Besides ANZ, banks such as Barclays and Standard Chartered have let go some of their employees in Singapore over the past year.

    The crisis faced by Deutsche Bank is unlikely to be a ‘Lehman moment’, experts said, referring to the collapse of the storied US investment bank Lehman Brothers eight years ago that played a major role in the global financial crisis.

    “A lot of people who are looking at a bank like Deutsche, and easily they are comparing this to Lehman but it is not the same. If you look at the liquidity conditions of banks now, it is very different from 2008-09,” said Mr Tan.

    “Balance sheets are not as weak as eight years ago and banks are not as vulnerable as they were,” Mr Song said.

    Lees ook:

  • HSBC plans to inject $1 billion into Indonesia business

    HSBC plans to inject $1 billion into Indonesia business

    HSBC plans to inject $1 billion of additional capital into its combined Indonesian business with PT Bank Ekonomi Raharja, an official at the Indonesian financial regulator, Ariastiadi, said on Thursday.

    HSBC separately said it would integrate its Indonesian business with Bank Ekonomi, but a bank spokeswoman in Indonesia declined to comment on the planned capital injection.

    The move would help to resolve a long-running issue for HSBC in Indonesia, where the government has encouraged banks in the country to operate via a single locally incorporated entity.

    Since the 2008/09 global financial crisis, local regulators have encouraged banks in their jurisdictions to incorporate themselves locally in order to make them easier to police and to ring-fence them from external shocks.

    Before the integration, HSBC operated its own branch on top of having a controlling stake in Bank Ekonomi.

    HSBC last year offered to buy out the minority shareholders of Bank Ekonomi and delist the Indonesian lender from the Jakarta stock exchange.

    Under the integration process, all the assets and liabilities of HSBC Indonesia will be transferred to the combined entity, which will be called PT Bank HSBC Indonesia, said HSBC’s Indonesian legal consultant, Kemal Siregar.

    HSBC shares were down 1 percent in London by 0940 GMT, while the benchmark FTSE 100 index () remained flat.

  • Global m-banking userbase to hit 2b by 2021

    Global m-banking userbase to hit 2b by 2021

    Over 2 billion consumers worldwide will have used their mobile devices for banking purposes by the end of 2021, up from 1.2 billion this year, Juniper Research predicts.

    Growth in mobile banking is being driven by consumer adoption of banking apps the changing way consumers manage their finances, the research firm said.

    The study found that the number of mobile banking logins are now exceeding that of internet banking logins in many markets. For example, the BBA (British Trade Association for Banking) announced that banking app logins in the UK reached a record 11 million per day during 2015, compared to 4.3 million internet banking logins during the same period.

    Meanwhile, a recent consumer survey conducted by Juniper Research found that around 65% of mobile banking customers in the US and the UK use an app to conduct banking services.

    The report found that banks are becoming increasingly concerned that their market position is being undermined by tech companies and pure-play vendors enabled by technology and regulations to enter the marketplace.

    Additionally, by 2017, banks in the EU will be compelled to open their APIs. This will result in many innovative new products that analyze (with permission) user data to create more attractive financial services for customers.

    “Recent industry shifts highlight why traditional banks must respond rapidly to retain market share by cultivating new revenue channels and enhancing existing base through sustained innovation,” research author Nitin Bhas said.

    “However the challenge here for new players is to increase market share and maintain profitability in the long-run.”

    Lees ook:

  • UOB Indonesia offers Rp 1.1 trillion in bonds to strengthen lending

    UOB Indonesia offers Rp 1.1 trillion in bonds to strengthen lending

    United Overseas Bank (UOB) Indonesia plans to issue Rp 1.1 trillion (US$84.5 million) in bonds in November. The issuance hopes to raise cash to support the bank’s lending capacity next year.

    UOB Indonesia president director Kevin Lam said Rp 1 trillion in proceeds would come from the senior bond while the remaining Rp 100 billion would come from the subordinated bond. Both will be offered from Nov. 17 until Nov. 22.

    “The bond will enable us to maintain solid funding as we help our customers seize business opportunities arising from increased infrastructure development and consumer demand,” he said during a public expose in Jakarta on Wednesday.

    The senior bond is divided into three series with a buy-back option, he further explained.

    Series A is offered with 370 days of maturity and a 7.4 percent coupon rate per annum. Series B will mature in 3 years with an 8.25 percent coupon rate. Series C will have a 5-year tenor with a coupon rate of 8.5 percent.

    Meanwhile, the subordinated bond has a 7-year tenor with a 10 percent coupon rate. All the coupons will be paid every three months.

    In the first half of 2016, UOB Indonesia saw its interest income increase by 22.32 percent year-on-year (yoy) to Rp 1.73 trillion.

    Net profits rose by 86.81 percent yoy to Rp 281.69 billion.

    Lees ook:

  • OJK to Expand Banking Industry, Aims for Thailand

    OJK to Expand Banking Industry, Aims for Thailand

    Financial Services Authority (OJK) Chairman Muliaman D. Hadad said that the OJK is in the process of exploring the possibilities of expanding Indonesian banking industry overseas.

    “The most possible [cooperation] is with Thailand, because there have been two or three meetings,” Muliaman said.

    Muliaman said that similar cooperation will also be established with other countries. Muliaman explained that Thailand serves as an important stepping stone to establish cooperation with Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar. “Why Thailand? Because Thailand has dominant business [partnership] with its neighbouring countries,” Muliaman added.

    Muliaman said that there are lots of possibilities for Indonesia to expand its financial industry to Thailand. Moreover, several of Indonesian business sectors have started to expand to Thailand, including property and trade.

    Aviliani, an economist from the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) praised OJK’s plan to integrate the national banking industry with ASEAN. Aviliani said that the integration is important to allow Indonesian banks to open branch offices and conduct business activities in neighbouring countries. However, Aviliani asserted that the policy may not always favour the banking industry. “Banks will always reflect on market potential,” Aviliani said.

    Aviliani added that the potential for overseas banking market is not quite as large as the domestic market. “Opening [branch offices] overseas will be difficult if [banks] cannot profit. But when foreign banks expand to Indonesia they will reap benefits because [Indonesia] has a large market potential,” Aviliani said.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Singapore banks missing the boat in booming SE Asia

    Singapore banks missing the boat in booming SE Asia

    The three local banks are not having a good year, mostly due to forces beyond their control, but they seem to be also scoring own goals – missing opportunities right on their doorstep, our South-east Asian neighbours.

    The past two decades have been a waste in terms of what they should have done, formulating and working out a thoughtful strategy of expansion in ASEAN countries but efforts have been half-hearted and sometimes marred by ineptitude.

    Singapore contributes the bulk or the lion’s share of profits to DBS Group Holdings, OCBC Bank and United Overseas Bank (UOB) but domestic sluggish growth, a slump in the property market and a prolonged period of weak interest rates are translating to poorer earnings.

    What could have helped is if the banks have a larger presence in the region which is booming; some countries this year and the next are projected to grow more than 6 per cent against 1-2 per cent for Singapore.

    Year to date, the stockmarkets of Indonesia and Vietnam are posting double-digit gains while it’s in the high single digit for Thailand and the Philippines. Singapore equities by contrast is a minus 2 per cent.

    For various reasons, the banks have pretty much neglected the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, concentrating on expanding in Greater China.

    All three have Indonesian subsidiaries but progress in getting meaningful traction in ASEAN’s largest economy has been slow. And payback for their Greater China strategy is taking a very long time.

    In Q2, DBS said China recorded a net loss of S$15 million compared with a net profit of S$79 million a year ago and S$23 million in the previous quarter.

    Net profit for Hong Kong halved to S$161 million from S$320 million a year ago.

    OCBC’s Greater China pre-tax profit was unchanged at S$253 million in Q2; UOB posted a pre-tax profit of S$66 million for Greater China, down almost 30 per cent.

    From Malaysia, where OCBC and UOB are among the largest foreign banks, contributions there are somewhat underwhelming.

    In Q2, OCBC’s Malaysia pre-tax profit was up 11 per cent at S$214 million making up 19 per cent of total group earnings.

    UOB’s Q2 pre-tax profit from Malaysia fell almost 9 per cent to S$125 million, and contributed 13 per cent to group total.

    The banks had a golden opportunity to acquire banks in the debt-strapped ASEAN countries following the 1998 Asian financial crisis but they let that slip after some missteps.

    DBS tried with forays in Thailand and the Philippines but quit after huge losses.

    Today, it has some activities in Indonesia which are so small that the bank lumps it under South and South-east Asia. Still, Q2 net profit of South and South-east Asia of S$46 million from breakeven a year ago shows the potential.

    OCBC’s Indonesian business posted Q2 pre-tax profit of S$76 million, or 7 per cent of group total, and up from S$47 million a year ago.

    UOB, which has the most extensive operations in South-east Asia including 157 branches in Thailand and 190 in Indonesia, tried to buy a bank in the Philippines in 1999.

    But stymied by minorities, the bank pulled back in 2005, efforts which left its then chairman and chief executive “allergic” to the Philippines.

    UOB’s Q2 pre-tax profit from Thailand and Indonesia came to a combined S$78 million or 8 per cent of group earnings.

    For sure, it will never be smooth sailing to venture into these countries given that their sometimes chaotic domestic politics, frequent changes in policy, and weak adherence to rules, factors which deter all but the most stout-hearted foreign investors.

    Venturing out of Singapore will always be tough but our deep-pocket banks have the resources.

    The potential of South-east Asia is well documented: the 10 South-east Asian countries with a US$2.4 trillion (S$3.3 trillion) economy and population of 626 million forms one of the largest markets in the world which remains under-banked. It also has a burgeoning educated middle class that is receptive to financial services and products.

    What our banks need is staying power and agility to navigate these unwieldy markets, before they entirely miss the boat.

    Lees ook:

  • Mobile Banking Users in Indonesia Remains Low

    Mobile Banking Users in Indonesia Remains Low

    Research institute Microsave reported that only 0.73 percent of cellphone users in Indonesia have utilized online financial services.

    “The figure is lower than those of Malaysia with 5.79 percent and Cambodia with 2.73 percent,” Microsave Country Development Senior Manager Grace Retnowati said on Wednesday, October 12, 2016.

    Grace revealed that the number of SIM card users in Indonesia stands at almost 200 million. At least 20 percent of them are cellphone users.

    “Mobile device utilization for financial services remains low, although the Internet network coverage has reached 90 percent,” Grace added.

    In addition, Grace pointed out that only 36 percent of Indonesian people own bank accounts.

    “The awareness level for mobile banking services is only 0.3 percent,” Grace went on.

    According to Grace, the digital financial literacy is important for middle-class and low-income people.

    “The digital financial services are expected to boost the annual GDP by US$3.7 trillion in 2025 or six percent when compared to the conventional financial services,” Grace said.

    Grace suggested that payments made via smartphone would reduce the cost of financial services by 80 to 90 percent.

    “The cost efficiency will allow financial institutions to provide low-cost services,” Grace said.

  • BRI Syariah plans to conduct IPO

    BRI Syariah plans to conduct IPO

    PT Bank BRI Syariah, a sharia compliant subsidiary of state lender Bank Rakyat Indonesia, plans to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) of its shares in 2018 to boost alternative funding sources.

    “During the IPO we will float our shares worth Rp1 trillion to the stock exchange,” BRI Syariah President Director Moch. hadi Santoso said after a press conference here on Wednesday.

    The decision to turn the bank into a publicly listed company was taken to strengthen capital structure particularly at “Tier 1”, he said.

    The bank wants to strengthen its capital through various funding sources to expand its financing business. Moreover, the bank wants to expand its financing portfolio from retail and business segments to infrastructure financing, he said.

    “After the IPO, we will continue to expand our business. This year we have been engaged in infrastructure financing,” he said.

    Also this year, the bank has explored several commitments for infrastructure financing. But its amount is not yet significant to boost the business growth of PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Ybks subsidiary,” he said.

    The BRI Syariah has set itself the target of boosting its financing growth at 13 percent year on year from to Rp18.8 trillion from Rp16.5 trillion at the end of this year.

    Lees ook:

  • Assets of sharia banks increase to Rp305.5 trillion

    Assets of sharia banks increase to Rp305.5 trillion

    The assets of sharia banks rose 18.49 percent year-on-year to Rp305.5 trillion by July, 2016 on growing third party funds.

    Third party funds held by sharia banks rose 12.54 percent to Rp243 trillion in the same period, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Financial Service Authority (OJK) Muliaman Hadad said in a news release received here on Sunday.

    “The rise in third party fund resulted in an increase of 7.47 percent in sharia financing to Rp220.1 trillion from Rp204.8 trillion,” Muliaman Hadad said at a seminar on sharia financing in Washington, the United States, organized by the World Bank and the Islamic Financial Services Board.

    The rise in sharia financing contributed to increase sharia share of the banking market to 4.81 percent in July, 2016 from 4.6 percent in July 2015. The market share rose to 5.13 percent if conversion of the Aseh Development Bank to Sharia bank was taken into account.

    Muliaman said sharia finance could be an instrument to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as called for by the United Nations.

    “The typical principles of sharia finance which give emphasis on equitable income and is oriented to environmental social activities, make development of sharia financial system very relevant with the SDGS goals,” he said.

    Sharia finance covers not only poverty aspect but also health care, education, gender equal treatment, infrastructure development, economic development, anticipation of climate change, etc, he said.

    He said sharia banking industry has grown in Indonesia as indicated by the decline in Non-Performing Financing (NPF) ratio to 4.81 percent by July 2016.

    Return on Assets (ROA) rose to 1.06 percent by July, 2016 from 0.91 percent by July 2015. As for the ratio of operating cost to operating income has improved to 92.78 percent from 94.19 percent.

    In addition, there was an increase in capital adequacy of sharia banks as reflected in the Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) to 14.86 percent in July 2016 from 14.47 percent last year.

    The assets of sharia non bank finance industry rose 23.18 percent to Rp80.1 trillion by July 2016.

    Global sharia bonds contributed 23.3 percent or US$10.15 billion to the total value of international sovereign bonds.

    Indonesia is the first country to issue sharia retail bonds.

    Muliaman said sharia capital market could also play a significant role in financing the governments infrastructure projects.

    Separately a member of the OJK board of commissioner Firdaus Djaelani said in Semarang, the country had sharia banks, 22 conventional banks having sharia units and 165 sharia people financing banks.

    Firdaus said based on data in September, 2016, there were 36 investment managers issuing sharia mutual fund (Reksadana), 12 securities companies issuing sharia on line trading system, 326 issuers and public companies with sharia shares and 51 series of corporate sharia bonds and 53 series of state sharia bonds have been issued.

    Assets in sharia products in the stock exchange were valued at Rp3,272.84 trillion consisting of market capitalization of sharia shares, sharia mutual funds and corporate sharia bonds.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Susi Promises Banking Access for Fishermen

    Susi Promises Banking Access for Fishermen

    Marine and Fisheries Affairs Minister Susi Pudjiastuti will facilitate fishermen or ship owners who owns ships with a capacity of less than 10 gross tonnage to have access to banking services. Minister Susi said that ship owners would only need came to the Marine and Fisheries Affairs Ministry office.

    “I will establish an outpost at the Ministry’s licensing office. We will meet [fishermen] with banking institutions,” Susi said on Wednesday, October 5, 2016.

    Susi promised to help fishermen to be able to access credit facilities to get funds to replace their trawls. Susi targeted fishermen to be able to get at least Rp 200 million loan. The Minister also offered to provide a debt restructuring program for fishermen.

    Susi hoped that ship owners will take the opportunity to replace their trawls and fish with more environmentally friendly method. The Minister added that she had recently managed to help a fisherman to get a fresh loan from the bank.

    Susi said that she had contacted two state-owned banks, Bank Rakyat Indonesia, and Bank BNI, to help with the program. The Minister also expected other banks to take part in the program, which is supported by the Financial Services Authority.

    In addition, the Marine and Fisheries Affairs Ministry had asked fishermen to re-measure their ships, while Minister Susi guaranteed that there will be no illegal levy in the process.

    Lees ook:

  • Jakarta tax amnesty has little impact on banks here

    Jakarta tax amnesty has little impact on banks here

    The tax amnesty scheme in Indonesia has had a much smaller impact on funds flowing out of Singapore’s private banking industry than feared, an RHB report suggested on Tuesday.

    The funds flowing out of Singapore likely made up only 1-2 per cent of assets under management (AUM) of the private banking industry. Some 79 trillion rupiah (S$8.3 billion) was repatriated in the first nine-month phase of Jakarta’s tax amnesty programme.

    The scheme allows Indonesians to declare assets that were previously undeclared to tax authorities. In return, they paid a sharply reduced tax rate on those assets – just 2 per cent – in the first phase, which ended on Sept 30.

    The 79 trillion rupiah was 12 per cent of the assets of wealthy Indonesian clients that were declared to be kept in Singapore, according to data from the Indonesian government. Singapore has been a big draw for rich Indonesians. All in, the assets held here and declared to the Indonesian authorities made up 70 per cent of all overseas funds that had been declared.

    RHB calculated that the total assets of the three Singapore banks’ private banking segment stood at about S$321 billion. This means the amount repatriated to Indonesia from Singapore accounts for only 2.6 per cent of the three banks’ total AUM. These already exclude the asset base of the top private banks in Singapore, such as UBS, Citi, and Credit Suisse. So, all in, the impact on Singapore’s private banking industry should be about 1-2 per cent of all assets held here, RHB noted.

    “There is likely to be more repatriation of funds from Singapore to Indonesia going forward, but the experience of Phase 1 suggests that the amount repatriated is unlikely to be a large percentage of Singapore banks’ assets under management,” it said.

    This comes as the tax rate for those who repatriate their assets in Phase 2 rises to 3 per cent, one percentage point more than in Phase 1. The tax rate will be increased yet again in the third phase, Jakarta has said.

    Indonesian taxpayers had declared more than 3,600 trillion rupiahs in assets both domestically and overseas. An Indonesian tax authority quoted by The Straits Times said the country had set a 4,000 trillion rupiah target for the first phase.

    The tax amnesty scheme comes amid heightened scrutiny of tax evasion. Banks here had to file a suspicious transaction report on clients taking part in the programme, with the Singapore authorities later having to state publicly that participation in a tax amnesty scheme alone would not attract criminal investigation in Singapore. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said that the use of suspicious transaction reports is a practice across other jurisdictions when handling tax amnesty cases.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Mandiri prepares syndicated loans of Rp4 trillion

    Mandiri prepares syndicated loans of Rp4 trillion

    State lender Bank Mandiri is preparing a syndicated loan of Rp4 trillion to build five airports in Indonesia in the fourth quarter of 2016, the banks corporate banking director, Royke Tumilaar, said.

    Bank Mandiri will lead the syndication of loans to state airport operator PT Angkasapura I which will develop the five airports, Royke stated here on Monday.

    “Syndicated loans worth Rp4 trillion will be extended for the purpose. The Kulonprogo airport in Yogyakarta will be among these five airports,” he added.

    The loans will be used to build new airports and expand the existing ones. The five airports include Ahmad Yani in Semarang, Syamsudin Noor in Banjarmasin and Kulonprogo in Yogyakarta. Also, the Terminal 3 at the Juanda Airport in Surabaya and Sultan Hasanuddin Airport in Makassar are to be developed with these loans.

    Other debtors that will be involved include Sarana Multi Infrastruktur (SMI), PT Bank Central Asia Tbk (BCA), PT Indonesia Infrastructure Finance (IIF) and PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk (BRI).

    Royke further syndicated loans will also be given in the fourth quarter of 2016 for the construction of toll roads in and around Jakarta.

    “We hope the process can be started in the fourth quarter of 2016, the construction of a new airport in Kulonprogo also begins by then,” he noted.

    Overall, the demand for loans to finance infrastructure development in the second semester of 2016 continued to increase, he noted.

    The state bank has also prepared loans worth Rs 20 trillion for the construction of power plants in the fourth quarter, he disclosed.

    As per the bank’s target, the credit extended to infrastructure development will grow 20 percent year on year by the end of this year.

    Lees ook:

  • Sharia Finance Sees Promising Future

    Sharia Finance Sees Promising Future

    The Financial Services Authority (OJK) says that the sharia finance still sees promising future despite the slowing down of global economic growth.

    “I’m optimistic on the promising future of the sharia finance industry. However, there will be many challenges and uncertainty,” said Sarjito, OJK Deputy Commissioner for Capital Market Supervision, Thursday, September 29, 2016.

    The challenges and uncertainty include the difficulty in expanding the business in a different jurisdiction that gets hit by local regulations and also the interpretation of sharia itself.

    Sarjito continued, the other challenge is the weak of the sharia finance management and its governance. “The last one is the lack of human resources that are competent enough and having the adequate capacity in sharia finance,” he said.

    The sharia finance industry in Indonesia has shown an unbelievable progress. Based on the report of the Indonesian Islamic Finance, the asset of the sharia finance industry has a 10% growth, and reached Rp617 billion in 2015.

    The number has exceeded the conventional finance asset’s growth. The same trend is also seen in other countries that are also developing the sharia finance.

  • Standard Chartered probed by US over Indonesia ‘bribes’

    Standard Chartered probed by US over Indonesia ‘bribes’

    Standard Chartered acknowledged on Tuesday (Sep 27) it was being investigated by the US Department of Justice over claims that an Indonesian subsidiary had paid bribes to secure contracts.

    The London-based, Asia-focused bank said in a statement that it had referred the matter to the “appropriate authorities” and launched its own review.

    The Wall Street Journal newspaper said that an internal audit at Indonesian energy company Maxpower Group found evidence of possible bribery and US prosecutors were examining whether Standard Chartered was culpable for not stopping it.

    “Standard Chartered takes very seriously allegations of impropriety in any of our private equity investments,” the bank told AFP in a statement when asked about the report.

    “We proactively referred this matter to the appropriate authorities and have conducted our own review.

    “When we receive allegations of improper behaviour in an investee company, we pursue those allegations vigorously and act appropriately, including sharing information and cooperating fully with government authorities and addressing any issues of internal conduct and accountability.”

    The Department of Justice did not comment when contacted by AFP.

    The Wall Street Journal said the Maxpower internal audit found that more than US$750,000 in cash advances needed to be examined as possible bribes, while lawyers who reviewed the audit found indications that employees made inappropriate payments to Indonesian government officials between 2012 and 2015.

    Standard Chartered began investing in Maxpower in 2012 and is the majority shareholder. There was no immediate comment from Maxpower.

    But a source close to the case told AFP the US authorities were indeed examining whether Standard Chartered, via its representatives on the Maxpower board, was aware of alleged bribes to win government contracts.

    The investigation would also look at why the bank’s alert procedures for spotting such matters had not been triggered.

    But the probe will focus on whether Standard Chartered has violated the terms of its 2012 deferred prosecution agreements with the Department of Justice.

    Standard Chartered paid US$667 million in 2012 to settle charges it violated US sanctions by handling thousands of money transactions involving Iran, Myanmar, Libya and Sudan.

    In August 2014, the bank was hit by US regulators with a US$300 million fine and restrictions on its dollar-clearing business for failing to detect possible money-laundering.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Bank of Bhutan to Start Accepting JCB Card

    Bank of Bhutan to Start Accepting JCB Card

    JCB International Co., Ltd. (JCBI), international operations subsidiary of JCB Co., Ltd., and Bank of Bhutan Ltd. (BOBL), the first and largest scale commercial bank in Bhutan, today announced that BOBL started accepting JCB cards at the bank’s merchants.

    Bhutan is popular destination for people in Asia Pacific. According to Tourism Council of Bhutan, over 150,000 travelers visited the country in 2015, which has more than tripled over the past 5 years. Most of the travelers are from regional countries in Asia, where JCBI focuses on for its business. BOBL, established in 1968, is the first bank of the country and currently has about 45 branches throughout Bhutan. With this launch, JCB cards are accepted at more than 480 locations and it covers 90% of POS terminals and ATMs in the market.

    JCBI Deputy President Kimihisa Imada said, “This year is the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Bhutan and Japan and it is my pleasure to announce the launch of business cooperation of BOBL and JCB in such a historic year. South Asia is an emerging market and Bhutan is located in the middle of East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. Through the bank’s nationwide merchant network, we can meet JCB cardmember demand while travelling and sightseeing in Bhutan, especially cardmembers from neighbor countries, such as China, Bangladesh, and Thailand, which have about 13 million cardmembers.”

    Pema N Nadik, Chief Executive Officer of BOBL, said, “The introduction of JCB card acceptance has been long awaited given the popularity of Bhutan as a destination for Japanese travelers. With JCB cards now being accepted in Bhutan through the network of Bank of Bhutan’s ATM and POS terminals, visitors holding JCB cards have the option of making payments securely through this payment channel.”

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook: