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Tag: Finance

  • StanChart Names Chief Information Officer for Retail Banking

    StanChart Names Chief Information Officer for Retail Banking

    She takes over Paul Macpherson, Chief Information Officer, CPBB since 2018, who will be leaving to pursue opportunities outside the bank.

    Standard Chartered has appointed Anshu Sharma Raja as chief information officer, Consumer, Private & Business Banking (CPBB), the bank announced on Friday.

    Raja joined the bank in 2018 as managing director, global head of Retail Banking Technology and head of Global Business Services and Technology & Innovation Centers, based in Bengaluru, India. She previously worked for Vodaphone, AIG, Goldman Sachs, and consulted with investment banks for technology solutions, according to her LinkedIn profile.

    Raja is based in Singapore and reports to Michael Gorriz, group chief information officer.

    Our ambitious growth plans for our affluent, mass and wealth management business rely on a modern, cloud-based architecture that delivers superior client products and experiences digitally, Gorriz said in the announcement.

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  • VietinBank pre-tax H1 profits up 75 pct

    VietinBank pre-tax H1 profits up 75 pct

    State-owned lender VietinBank has recorded pre-tax profits of VND13 trillion ($565.2 million) in the first six months of 2021, a year-on-year increase of 75 percent.

    Its ratio of non-performing loans at the end of Q2 was 1.38 percent, chairman Le Duc Tho said, adding that the targeted non-performing loans ratio for this year was 1-1.2 percent

    The bank’s total assets value at the end of June was VND1.4 quadrillion ($60.8 billion), while its loans outstanding were VND1.06 quadrillion, according to its CEO Tran Binh Minh.

    Capital mobilization as of June reached VND1.2 quadrillion, up 3.4 percent year-on-year.

    The bank plans to increase its charter capital by 29 percent to over VND48 trillion this year by paying dividends in shares.

  • HSBC Names Malaysia Head of Wealth and Personal Banking

    HSBC Names Malaysia Head of Wealth and Personal Banking

    HSBC has appointed a successor for the role of wealth and personal banking head in Malaysia after it was left vacant for three months.

    HSBC named Renee Bullock-Cann as head of wealth and personal banking (WPB) in Malaysia, according to a statement, succeeding Tara Latini who was named head of WPB in the U.S. in April.

    Bullock-Cann reports to HSBC Malaysia chief executive Stuart Milne and APAC regional head of wealth and personal banking Greg Hinston.

    Bullock-Cann was most recently the head of distribution for WPB in Malaysia after relocating to the country in 2019. Previously, she was head of WPB for HSBC Bermuda.

    According to HSBC, Malaysia is a priority market for the bank which has made various investments including $18 million from 2018 to 2020 to improve branches and client experience; $40 million from 2021 to 2023 to add tech capabilities to branches; the creation of 200 new roles; and the roll-out of various digital services.

    Our ambition is simple: we want to be the bank that Malaysians turn to for their international needs, Milne said.

    We will leverage our unparalleled international network, enhance our range of wealth solutions and focus on building our digital capabilities including our mobile functionality, our in-branch technology, and our people’s digital skills.

  • Singapore Leads Banking-as-a-Service Adoption

    Singapore Leads Banking-as-a-Service Adoption

    Almost half (47 percent) of all financial institutions in the republic have invested in banking-as-a-service in the last year, and 45 percent are looking to do so in the next 12 months, according to a new survey by Finastra.

    Financial institutions (FIs) in Singapore are among the most confident in BaaS globally, with 87 percent saying they expect to see benefits in the coming year, Finastra said in its Financial Service State of the Nation Survey 2021, published on Tuesday.

    At the same time, 97 percent said open banking is important to their business, with 56 percent calling it a must-have and highlighting its ability to deliver new services.

    Hong Kong FIs are also some of the most optimistic towards BaaS, with 42 percent deploying or improving BaaS in the last 12 months and 92 percent expecting to see positive impacts from BaaS and embedded banking (89 percent) in the next 12 months.

    Covid-19 Boost

    Singapore financial institutions had the largest increase in digital banking investment (25 percent) in response to COVID-19 among markets surveyed, and the highest proportion of respondents globally saying their bank increased overall investment/budgets in response to the pandemic (84 percent).

    The study was conducted in March 2021 among 785 professionals at financial institutions and banks in France, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, the U.A.E., U.K. and U.S.

  • Fintech startup gets $2 mln seed funding from global investors

    Fintech startup gets $2 mln seed funding from global investors

    Vietnamese fintech startup Infina has raised $2 million in seed funding from five global venture capitalists.

    The investors are Japan’s Saison Capital, Indonesia’s Venturra Discovery, Singapore’s 1982 Ventures, the U.S.’s 500 Startups, and Korea’s Nextrans.

    Some Google and Netflix executives are also taking part in this round.

    The startup has developed an investment app called Infina that enables users to make term deposits, invest in certificates of deposit and exchange traded funds. Most users are between the ages of 25 to 40 and looking for alternatives to investing in long-term asset classes like real estate.

    The seed funding will be used to increase the number of users and diversify the investment portfolio, and hire experts to analyze customers’ risk preferences.

    It plans to expand into other countries in future, but for the time being is focused on the Vietnamese market.

    The company said that around 500,000 securities trading accounts were opened in the first five months of 2021, a 20 percent year-on-year increase, according to the Vietnam Securities Depository.

    This along with Vietnam’s high Internet penetration rate, which was at around 70 percent as of January, and the fact that more than three-fourths of Internet users have used online financial services before, enable apps like Infina to gain traction.

    Infina was launched in January 2021 by James Vuong, who used to be an engineer in the U.S.’s Silicon Valley before returning to Vietnam to serve as vice president of investment at Vietnam’s first venture capital fund IDG Ventures.

    Vuong said many Internet users began using digital services, including for investments, with the interest rate cuts by the central bank to help businesses cope with Covid-19 prompting many investors to look for alternatives with higher returns than bank deposits.

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  • China Bond Bankers Flee HSBC

    China Bond Bankers Flee HSBC

    HSBC has reportedly lost four bankers in its debt capital markets team covering Chinese state-owned enterprises as the business faces pressure from the Huawei incident and stressed relations with the U.K.

    Managing directors John Hai and Jiang Song have left HSBC in recent weeks, according to a report citing unnamed sources, with plans to join competing firms after more than a decade with the British lender.

    Hai and Jiang led client coverage of Chinese investment-grade issuers including state-owned enterprises (SOE).

    Two other bankers on HSBC’s China investment grade team have also left.

    The Chinese investment-grade bond team has 12 employees and the overall debt capital market (DCM) unit has about 20.

    According to the sources, HSBC has been missing out on dollar bond deals from Chinese SOE clients following the U.S. probe of Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou.

    Dealmaking was also affected by U.K.-China tensions over political freedoms in Hong Kong.

    Despite the headwinds, HSBC continues to concentrate resources in Asia with reduction or exits from unprofitable operations in the U.S. and Europe.

    In addition to the transferal of three of HSBC’s most senior executives from London to Hong Kong, the bank has also made managing director-leveled hires in global co-head of capital financing Matthew Ginsburg and head of consumer and retail Heidi Chan.

    We continue to invest in our mainland China business – both onshore and offshore – and have seen recent strong momentum for our China DCM business, particularly in [the] public sector, FIG and high yield, said an HSBC spokesperson. As the leading foreign bank in mainland China, we are proud of our track record, and confident and optimistic about our ability to serve the financial and banking needs of our Chinese clients.

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  • Bank of Singapore Loses Market Head

    Bank of Singapore Loses Market Head

    Bank of Singapore has lost an industry veteran and market head for Greater China, sources said.

    Greater China market head Richard Hu has left Bank of Singapore, sources said, after joining in the role two years ago.

    Hu is an industry veteran with more than 20 years of experience in the region. He previously held multiple senior roles covering Greater China markets with Julius Baer, HSBC Private Bank, Credit Suisse, UBS, and Citi Private Bank.

    A spokesperson for the bank confirmed the exit. Although Bank of Singapore continues to be in hiring mode – it recently welcomed ex-UBS head of wealth planning for Singapore Paul Chua – it has also seen an outflow of executives in 2021.

    Earlier this month, we reported the departure of its head of Russia and Eastern Europe Vadim Bondarev.

    Several rival banks have been beneficiaries from recent exits such as RBC Wealth Management which named Vincent Cheng as a Hong Kong-based relationship manager and Credit Suisse which hired Rohit Narayanan to cover the India market. And In Janaury, Suresh Nair joined Standard Chartered Private Bank as a senior client partner.

  • UOB Taps Digital Innovation to Grow Wealth Franchise

    UOB Taps Digital Innovation to Grow Wealth Franchise

    The bank aims to double its wealth fee income by 2026, which translates to a compound annual growth rate of over 15 percent over the next five years.

    UOB is hoping get more of its customers to kickstart their investment journey by expanding its digital wealth offerings and investing in digital innovation, particularly as customers in the region are increasingly affluent but still underserved.

    On Thursday, the bank launched «SimpleInvest» on its UOB Mighty app, which aims to help customers grow their wealth via Liquidity, Income or Growth solutions that places their funds in either UOB Asset Management’s United SGD Money Market Fund, or a basket of actively managed funds by renowned international asset managers such as Allianz, Fidelity International, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Schroders and UBS Asset Management.

    The digital self-serve solution was developed to lower the barriers first-time investors encounter when starting their investment journey, Jacquelyn Tan, UOB’s group head of personal financial services, said at a media launch.

    According to the bank’s, many of its customers who are new to investing think it is difficult and require significant sums, or do not have the knowledge or confidence to do.

    The bank is also hoping that the personalization of wealth management for each customer, such as by providing them information and insights that are relevant to their needs and lifestyle choices, based on their banking patterns, will enable them to have the confidence they need to make wiser financial decisions.

    To reach its wealth management targets, UOB will be investing S$200 million ($148.74 million) in digital innovation over the next three years.

    It will also be progressively rolling out its suite of digital wealth solutions across the region, and targets one in four of its customers across the region to tap on its digital wealth solutions.

  • DBS Starts Commodity Trading on LME

    DBS Starts Commodity Trading on LME

    The bank is the first in Asia to hold a London Metal Exchange (LME) trading membership outside of London.

    DBS is one of four Category 4 members on the LME, which allows it to trade and issue client contracts but doesn’t give it clearing abilities.

    The LME membership paves the way for the bank’s corporate clients in Singapore, China, India, Indonesia, Korea, and Hong Kong to have access to a broader suite of hedging and financial solutions to support the diverse needs of metal businesses, DBS said in an announcement this week.

    It will also provide the bank’s clients in the metals and mining space with the option to access sustainably-produced metal, Tan Su Shan, DBS group head of institutional banking, said.

    Metals are an essential enabler to achieve a sustainable future, and as global demand for the commodity continues to grow exponentially, so will expectations on the industry’s sustainability standards, Tan said.

    The 144-year-old bourse is the global hub for metals trading and was acquired by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing in 2012.

  • DBS Starts Commodity Trading on LME

    DBS Starts Commodity Trading on LME

    The bank is the first in Asia to hold a London Metal Exchange (LME) trading membership outside of London.

    DBS is one of four Category 4 members on the LME, which allows it to trade and issue client contracts but doesn’t give it clearing abilities.

    The LME membership paves the way for the bank’s corporate clients in Singapore, China, India, Indonesia, Korea and Hong Kong to have access to a broader suite of hedging and financial solutions to support the diverse needs of metal businesses, DBS said in an announcement this week.

    It will also provide the bank’s clients in the metals and mining space with the option to access sustainably-produced metal, Tan Su Shan, DBS group head of institutional banking, said.

    «Metals are an essential enabler to achieve a sustainable future, and as global demand for the commodity continues to grow exponentially, so will expectations on the industry’s sustainability standards,» Tan said.

    The 144-year-old bourse is the global hub for metals trading and was acquired by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing in 2012.

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  • The Year Global Banking Became Impossible

    The Year Global Banking Became Impossible

    U.S. sanctions and China’s new anti-sanctions law are creating internal compliance mayhem for international banks – and Swiss finance.

    The average compliance officer is facing a world of hurt right now. President Joe Biden’s executive order earlier this month drastically expanded the scope and range of prohibitions against Chinese companies and sovereign-owned entities, and it was met a week later by China’s new anti-sanctions law.

    Although conventional wisdom seems to point towards technological decoupling and irreconcilable compliance problems, the immediate truth is probably a starker, simpler one.

    The average bank or international company in Asia has probably spent the last couple of weeks shadow boxing itself into an unenviable corner. There are likely to be any number of incredibly angry emails going around and quickly convened meetings that decide nothing much. They are then immediately forgotten until the next unsolvable quandary pops up.

    What usually happens is that the combined compliance and risk apparatus, including the legal function, are caught fighting a desperate rear-guard action while still trying to grapple with doing the right thing. So, they call in external legal counsel.

    And law firms have been more than glad to provide. Although they are simply saying what a senior compliance person should be able to verbalize at management or committee meetings, they at least provide a lead-in, a buffer, in front of an irate front-line and management demanding clear and instant answers when there are none.

    It always seems to sound nicer when you schedule a conference call with external parties or, failing that, you can at least point towards or wave a fresh color printout – kind of like Chamberlain after Munich.

    After canvassing the web for literally five minutes with one search engine, a few opinions stand out for the average compliance person to choose from. Law firm Wilmer Hale goes pretty far out on a limb, saying the anti-sanctions law «creates far-reaching potential risks including the extraterritorial scope and a seemingly unbounded catchall provision.»

    They should probably only be used in extremis, although the firm did say it was «prepared to advise clients on how to comply with sanctions regimes in a way that makes sense for their business and to assist as needed in assessing the business implications of the ASL».

    Law firm Mayer Brown was more moderated, saying the law «further expands the risks for both Chinese and non-Chinese companies and individuals who have operations or dealings in or with China, particularly those who may be subject to conflicting legal obligations».

    Linklaters was much more subdued, saying «with these measures the PRC intends to counter attempts to influence its affairs by foreign governments via sanctions or other measures» before adding that clients should reach out to their usual contacts if they want to discuss it in more detail. All three are good choices to pad out any internal meeting even though they might not sway a decision in the direction intended.

    If all else fails, and the decision goes completely the wrong way, blame the screening team for everything.

    After all, they are the messenger and they always deserve to get shot.

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  • UBS Issues First Green Bonds

    UBS Issues First Green Bonds

    UBS has issued its first green bonds which it will use to finance mortgages for low-energy buildings.

    Major Swiss bank UBS Tuesday issued its first «green bonds»

    They are in two tranches, one of 500 million euros ($595 million) with a five-year maturity and a seven-year one of 250 million francs ($272 million), the bank said in a press release.

    UBS said the bonds were issued under its Green Funding Framework which is based on international rules. The framework defines green investments in the form of mortgages on Swiss buildings which meet the Minergie standard for low-energy buildings. The bank intends to expand the pool of suitable assets continually.

    The bonds will help UBS kill several birds with one stone. It will be keeping its promise to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across its entire business by 2050 as well as helping its clients with sustainability.

    The «green bonds» will also bolster its balance sheet by helping refinance its mortgage book on a broader basis.

    Environmental Balance Sheet

    They will also help its environmental balance sheet. A recent study showed 35 percent, or $13.4 billion, of UBS’ loans book’s exposure to what the bank terms climate-sensitive industries was in real estate.

    Reducing high-carbon positions on the balance sheet is more important than simply cutting exposure to climate-sensitive sectors such as real estate. We don’t serve the community better by reducing real estate lending, rather, by making real estate lending greener.

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  • DBS Launches Digital Bond Marketplace

    DBS Launches Digital Bond Marketplace

    The bank is launching a marketplace that for issuers to directly issue their own bonds connect with investors.

    DBS is launching the Fixed Income Exchange (FIX) to digitalize and make the bond issuance process more efficient, the bank announced on Tuesday in a statement.

    FIX allows issuers to directly issue bonds to the marketplace, and fully digitalizes and automates issuance-related documentation. It also supports issuers in generating digital bond-ready transactions, which can be listed and traded on the DBS Digital Exchange (DDEx).

    Keppel Corporation is the first corporate issuer on the platform, with a $1 billion Euro-Commercial Paper Programme.

    With FIX, DBS said it hopes to make capital markets access more time and cost-efficient, while also developing the breadth and depth of Asian bond markets at a faster pace.

    The time is ripe for traditional ways of bond origination to make way for a more digital approach, to do what has been aspired for so long – by taking the first step towards the creation of an independent platform that allows bond issuers efficient and effective direct access to the market place and bond investors, Clifford Lee, global head of fixed income at DBS, said in the announcement.

    Just last week, domestic rival UOB piloted the digital issuance of its latest bond offering on exchange-operated digital asset issuance platform Marketnode, a joint venture between Singapore Exchange and Temasek.

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  • Vietnam’s credit growth doubles

    Vietnam’s credit growth doubles

    Bank credit growth from January 1 to June 15 was 5.1 percent, double the rate recorded in the same period last year.

    The jump came despite the fourth wave of Covid-19 because the State Bank of Vietnam made monetary policy more flexible and directed banks to focus on funding manufacturing and reduce lending to sectors with high risks, its deputy governor, Dao Minh Tu, said Monday.

    Average loan interests in April fell by 0.3 percentage points from December, he added.

    The central bank has also directed banks to delay debt payment or lower or scrap interests on customers affected by the Covid-19 pandemic to help their business recovery.

    Nearly 676,700 customers have seen the interests of their debts removed or reduced with a total outstanding loan of nearly VND1,278 trillion.

    The bank will continue to pursue a flexible monetary policy until the end of the year keep inflation under control and support an economic recovery.

    The pandemic has boosted demand for online payment. In the first four months, internet payment value surged 31 percent year-on-year.

  • OCBC Appoints Group COO

    OCBC Appoints Group COO

    OCBC has appointed a new group chief operating officer in an effort to drive and accelerate transformation at the Singapore-based bank.

    Lim Khiang Tong has been named group COO – a newly created role – according to a statement, effective June 21 this year. Lim will report to recently appointed group chief executive Helen Wong.

    Lim has 30 years of management experience in strategic tech development, information technology, process reengineering, project management, and banking operations. He joined OCBC’s IT management team in 2000 before being appointed to lead the unit in 2002. In 2007, he was named head of group IT and in 2010, he assumed the role of head of group operations and technology.

    Lim will take on the expanded role in an effort to «optimize and intensify» investments across tech, product processes, and people.

    Lim has been instrumental in building our operational and technology capabilities and in driving our digital transformation efforts, Wong said. He is highly regarded by colleagues, business partners and industry peers. It is only fitting that he assumes this new role.

    Lim has already made various efforts to bolster the bank’s tech capabilities including the development of the first technology command center monitoring and managing both cybersecurity and daily operations – the OCBC Regional Data Center.

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