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  • Credit Suisse APAC Profits Slip in 2020

    Credit Suisse APAC Profits Slip in 2020

    Pre-tax income at Credit Suisse’s Asia Pacific unit slipped in 2020 mainly due to higher credit loss provisions.

    Pre-tax income for Credit Suisse’s regional business fell 10 percent year-on-year to 828 million Swiss francs ($921 million), according to a statement, driven primarily by higher credit loss provisions which were offset by higher net revenue.

    Regional revenue grew 17 percent to 4.2 billion Swiss francs, accounting for 20 percent of the bank’s overall revenue with higher contributions from the Greater China region and strong collaboration with the global investment banking business. The region posted 8.6 billion Swiss francs of net new assets in 2020 which included a net outflow of 1.1 billion Swiss francs in the fourth quarter.

    Assets under management for the region stayed flat at 221.3 billion Swiss francs compared to 2019’s 220 billion Swiss francs.

    Globally, pre-tax income was down 27 percent to 3.5 billion Swiss francs due to increased provision for credit losses, major litigation provisions and an impairment to the valuation of a non-controlling interest in York Capital Management.

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  • Bank Permata CEO to Head Indonesia’s New Wealth Fund

    Bank Permata CEO to Head Indonesia’s New Wealth Fund

    The fund, which currently has around $15 billion in assets, is targeting to grow to $100 billion.

    Ridha Wirakusumah, who has been CEO Indonesia’s Bank Permata since 2017, will become the chief executive officer of the country’s new strategic development sovereign wealth fund, the Indonesia Investment Authority said in an announcement on Tuesday.

    Wirakusamah has held a number of leadership positions in his career, including president and CEO of AIG Consumer Finance Group Asia, Asia Pacific president and CEO at AIG, president CEO for AIG Finance (Hong Kong), head of corporate finance at Banker Trust Indonesia, APAC CEO at General Electric and head of banking at GE Money Asia.

    We want INA to reduce the gap in domestic funding needs and development financing, and provide development financing, especially for national infrastructure,» Indonesia President Joko Widodo said in a briefing on Tuesday.

    The Indonesia Investment Authority’s slate of executives includes Arief Budiman, a former director of oil and gas giant Pertamina, who will serve as deputy CEO. Also joining the fund is Stefanus Ade Hadiwidjaja, previously with private equity firm Creador Capital Group, who will be director of investment.

    Marita Alisjahbana of Citibank Indonesia will be director of risk, while Eddy Porwanto, formerly the chief financial officer of flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, joins as director of finance, the announcement said.

  • Singapore Banks Throw Weight Behind Green Vehicles

    Singapore Banks Throw Weight Behind Green Vehicles

    Ahead of Tesla’s launch in Singapore, DBS is has announced financing for new and used electric and hybrid cars, while a partnership with OCBC will boost the availability of electric vehicle charging points.

    As part of DBS’ efforts to incentivize the adoption of green practices and carbon footprint reduction, the bank is rolling out Singapore’s first green car loan, which is priced at 1.68 percent per annum, it announced on Monday.

    The bank said there is much room for growth, citing Norway’s 54 percent electric car market share, compared to Singapore, where there are 43,000 electric and hybrid cars – only 6.8% of the car population.

    It also said that lending to the electric vehicle instead of the combustion engine vehicle sector has lower environmental and social costs of approximately 40 percent and 16 percent respectively.

    To accelerate the greening of Singapore’s land transport sector, OCBC Bank announced a strategic partnership with Charge+, an operator and provider of electric vehicle (EV) charging solutions that plans to install 10,000 EV charging points islandwide by 2030.

    Under the memorandum of understanding signed by the two parties, OCBC Bank will encourage its property developer and property owner customers to install charging points at their premises, implement digital payment solutions for the charging service, and look into the financing for the infrastructure, an announcement on Monday said.

    Just having the infrastructure is not good enough. There must be public adoption to enable a clean energy transportation system too. OCBC can therefore play the role as a meaningful financial services enabler in the electric vehicle ecosystem, Elaine Lam, OCBC head of global corporate banking, said in the announcement.

    Last week, electric carmaker Tesla began taking orders for its Model 3 Standard Range and the Model 3 Performance in Singapore, which are priced from S$116,334 ($88,000), excluding COE.

    The cars have a Vehicular Emissions Scheme (VES) banding, which entitles potential buyers to a S$25,000 rebate. Under the Electric Vehicle Early Adoption rebate scheme announced in 2020, customers who buy a new electric car also qualify for a 45 percent rebate on its Additional Registration Fee, capped at S$20,000.

    The Singapore government in 2020 said it aims to phase out fossil fuel vehicles by 2040.

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  • Over 100 Financial Firms Hit by DDoS Attacks

    Over 100 Financial Firms Hit by DDoS Attacks

    More than 100 financial firms were victims of distributed denial-of-service attacks by the same threat actor with North America and Europe overwhelmingly making up the dominant share, according to a recent report.

    Cyber intelligence sharing group FS-ISAC said that over 100 financial services firms were targets of a wave of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks – a method of overloading a web system with requests in order to prevent it from functioning properly.

    Interestingly, the report claims that the attacks were conducted by the same threat actor within a short period of time.

    The criminals sent extortion notes threatening to disrupt the firms’ websites and digital services, the report said. The threat actor methodically moved across jurisdictions in Europe, North America, Latin America, and Asia Pacific, hitting dozens of institutions within weeks.

    According to the report, North America and Europe made up an overwhelming share of the DDoS attacks with 43 percent and 38 percent, respectively. Asia (15 percent) and Latin America (3 percent) made up less than one-fifth.

    By sub-sectors, retail banking dominated the list, accounting for 41 percent of the DDoS attacks. This is followed by exchange (15 percent), payments (13 percent) and, securities and investment (10 percent).

    In 2021, we have already seen new cyber threats in the form of supply chain attacks, which we can expect to proliferate and evolve quickly, said FS-ISAC’s chairman of the board Jerry Perullo  «The only way to stay ahead of these ever more sophisticated threat actors is to collaborate. Now more than ever, we need global leaders to model what effective sharing looks like to the rest of our community as well as the industry at large.

  • P2P Lender Funding Societies Launches in Thailand

    P2P Lender Funding Societies Launches in Thailand

    This expansion to the startup’s fourth market comes after more than a year of working with Thai regulators and planning for market entry.

    Singapore-based Funding Societies, Southeast Asia’s largest SME digital financing platform, has rolled out its platform in Thailand, the company announced in a statement on Tuesday.

    The P2P lender noted Thailand’s large and SME-driven economy and the credit gap that has been exacerbated by the pandemic.

    The platform will provide Thai SMEs with full access to short-term customizable financing solutions, which are funded by retail and institutional investors, who can expect returns of 8 to 13 percent, the announcement said.

    The crowdfunding landscape in the country is growing steadily and we see a lot of potential here, Varun Bhandari, country head of Funding Societies Thailand, said about the expansion. The market follows launches in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

    In its six years of operation, Funding Societies has disbursed over $1.4 billion in funding to some 65,000 SMEs. The platform is backed by major investors like Sequoia India and Softbank Ventures Asia.

    Funding Societies recently announced a strategic alliance with Samsung Ventures and Samsung Life Insurance to introduce prospective partnerships and collaborations.

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  • DBS Posts Fourth Quarter Profit Drop

    DBS Posts Fourth Quarter Profit Drop

    DBS posted lower profits in the fourth quarter of 2020 due to higher allowances set aside for potential bad loans.

    Net profit fell 33 percent year-on-year to S$1.01 billion due to a lower net interest margin and high total allowances set aside, according to a statement from DBS.

    The bank’s earnings were in line with the average estimate of S$1.02 billion, according to Refinitiv’s compilation of four analyst forecasts.

    For the full year of 2020, DBS posted a net profit of S$4.72 billion, 26 percent below the record performance of 2019 as total allowances more than quadrupled to S$3.07 billion due to risks from the pandemic. Total income was stable at S$14.6 billion.

    According to the bank’s CEO Piyush Gupta, its pipeline for loans and fee income is healthy and it has also been actively positioning itself for growth.

    We have been proactive through the crisis and enter the year with new growth platforms, Gupta said.

    Lakshmi Vilas Bank in India and the securities joint venture in China will enhance our presence in both key markets. Initiatives such as the Digital Exchange, supply chain digitalization, and efforts to broaden wealth management to the mass market will reinforce our leadership in digital finance. These platforms will strengthen our ability to continue supporting customers and delivering shareholder returns.

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  • SGX Joint Venture to Launch Asian Bond Trading Platform

    SGX Joint Venture to Launch Asian Bond Trading Platform

    The XinTru joint venture with corporate bond trading platform provider Trumid and private equity firm Hillhouse Capital, will launch a new electronic bond trading platform later this year.

    This partnership combines Trumid’s cutting-edge technology and fixed income expertise, SGX’s deep experience in Asian financial market infrastructure and electronic trading, and Hillhouse’s expertise and network in Asia and the financial services sector», SGX said in a statement on Monday.

    The Trumid XT platform will connect liquidity from SGX’s Bond Pro and Trumid’s Market Center in the U.S. to provide a network for Asian fixed-income trading. This will enhance international access to Asian bond markets and facilitate Asian investor participation in U.S. and global emerging market credit, SGX said.

    XinTru’s independent management team includes chief revenue officer Ben Falloon who brings 20 years of Asia fixed income experience and relationships, and chief operating officer Mark Leahy, who has significant experience building and operating capital markets businesses in the region.

    SGX led a $53 million growth equity financing round in the New York-based startup in 2018, and subsequently joined Hillhouse Capital in another round of investment in 2019 when the firm took a minority stake in Trumid.

    Our early investment in Trumid paved the way for this deeper collaboration to advance the overall bond market infrastructure in Asia,” said SGX chief Loh Boon Chye.

    Trumid experienced exceptional growth in 2020, with trade volumes growing 374 percent year-on-year.

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  • KBank to open a Ho Chi Minh City branch

    KBank to open a Ho Chi Minh City branch

    KASIKORNBANK (KBank) is gearing up to become The Bank of AEC+3 after the State Bank of Vietnam granted approval for the opening of a branch in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The Bank aims to serve Thai business customers, including large corporate and SME clients who have invested in Vietnam, as well as local retail customers. It targets lending of 10,000 million Baht in its first year of operation while also investing in start-up firms with the aim of scouting advanced digital technologies for increased business opportunities.

    Mr. Pattarapong Kanhasuwan, KBank Executive Vice President, said that KBank was granted a license to open a branch in Ho Chi Minh City on January 19, 2021, and the Bank is now preparing for its inauguration. The branch is scheduled to open its doors within the third quarter of this year in order to provide services to local customers, including Thai and foreign businesses investing in Vietnam. Attention is now focused on Vietnam as a regional investment hub that has attracted the world’s leading companies – including those from Thailand – thanks to its strong economy. As evidenced, Vietnam is the only ASEAN country that is presently enjoying positive growth. In spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is among the world’s top four countries in terms of GDP growth. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has assessed that the Vietnamese economy will recover at a fast rate in 2021, with growth projected at 6.5 percent. This will likely attract international investors, both in Asia and the West, to steadily invest in Vietnam going forward.

    With these factors in mind, KBank has used the knowledge gained from services offered at its two representative offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in order to upgrade the representative office in Ho Chi Minh City to a Bank branch. It will focus on offering services to Thai, Chinese, Japanese and South Korean companies wishing to expand their businesses in Vietnam for international trade and investment, as well as local entrepreneurs, especially those conducting business with Thai corporate customers of KBank.

    KBank has set operational targets for the Bank branch in Ho Chi Minh City once it

    is fully established in 3Q21. These include services primarily for business sectors related to Thai customers of KBank, in particular SMEs, trading, service, infrastructure and industrial businesses. Its services will then be expanded to retail banking, including deposit and personal loan, based on KBank’s digital banking expertise in collaboration with local tech start-ups through investment by KVision to ensure that such services meet the needs of local retail customers. In 2020, the number of internet users in Vietnam had reached up to 70 percent of the total 90 million population, and Vietnam’smarket was valued at USD13 billion. KBank’s investment in Vietnam differs from that in other AEC+3 nations, where the priority is on international business. KBank’s 4Q21 operational targets for the AEC+3 include deposits of 1.2 billion Baht and loans of 10 billion Baht.

    KBank will continue to operate through the Hanoi representative office to provide service and act as an intermediary between the KASIKORNBANK Head Office and Thai customers who are expanding their businesses to northern Vietnam. At the same time, the Hanoi representative office supervises investment projects that have received financial support from KBank, compiles market data to support customers’ business plans, and promotes trading activity and investment between Thailand and Vietnam. Thai exporters who ship goods to Vietnam will also be given more access to the ASEAN market through this international network.

    KBank’s approval from the State Bank of Vietnam to set up operations in Vietnam is a highlight of the Bank’s strategy in becoming The Bank of AEC+3 that will connect all of its services via an extensive banking network in various forms including locally incorporated institutions (LIIs), branches, representative offices and partner banks. At present, KBank has an overseas service network across the AEC+3 countries and several others, in 16 countries and with more than 84 partners worldwide.

  • StanChart Sheds Office Space in Hong Kong

    StanChart Sheds Office Space in Hong Kong

    Standard Chartered will give up several floors in the main offices of the Hong Kong central business district as banks continue to adapt to the post-covid environment.

    Standard Chartered will give up the lease on eight floors of its Standard Chartered Bank Building in the central business district, according to a Hong Kong Economic Times report which cited related marketing materials.

    Landlord Hang Lung Properties is asking for about HK$6 million ($770,000) in rental per month for the 60,000 square feet space. The offices will be available between next month and April 2022.

    The British lender is also renting out three floors it owns from its offices in Kwun Tong, an industrial district in the eastern part of Hong Kong.

    The move falls in line with Standard Chartered’s announced plans to permanently offer flexible work options to around 90 percent of its 85,000 employees around the world. According to the bank, hybrid work arrangements will be made available to around half of its staff in early 2021 and will extend to 75,000 workers in 55 markets by 2023.

    While we have been thinking through the issues around the future workplace for some time, it’s inevitable that recent events provided a catalyst, said Standard Chartered’s human resources head Tanuj Kapilashrami in an internal memo.

    Vacancy rates amongst the district’s Grade A office are reaching the highest levels in December last year since 2004, according to property services firm Jones Lang LaSalle. And foreign firms are a major contributor with multinational companies making up 75 percent of total surrendered Hong Kong office stock in the last quarter, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

    Standard Chartered aside, other global banks that have recently shed office space in the main district include BNP Paribas, Nomura, and Macquarie Group. HSBC also said last year that it was considering ways to digitize more of its operations and is seeking to have more employees work from home in the future.

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  • HSBC Considers Relocation of Top Execs

    HSBC Considers Relocation of Top Execs

    The bank is reportedly considering moving a number of its top executives to Hong Kong or Singapore to strengthen its push in Asia.

    Among the relocations being considered are the two co-heads of its investment bank, Greg Guyett and Georges Elhedery, who are currently located in London, reported on Thursday.

    The move of its top decision-makers to Asia, where the bank makes most of its money, comes almost a year into its restructuring under chief executive Noel Quinn. The bank is preparing to announce the outcome of a strategic review later this month.

    HSBC has been undergoing an overhaul to focus on fee-generating businesses and reducing its operating costs. The bank has also said it intends to increase its rate of investment in Asia, particularly in wealth, the Greater Bay Area, South Asia, trade finance, and sustainable finance while scaling back investments in Europe and the U.S.

    Earlier this week, HSBC has internally appointed Daniel Chan, its current Hong Kong business and commercial banking head, to lead the bank’s new Greater Bay Area office, located in Guangdong.

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  • Standard Chartered Grows CCIB Unit in Singapore

    Standard Chartered Grows CCIB Unit in Singapore

    The bank has made a pair of Singapore-based senior appointments to its Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking (CCIB) segment as it increases its focuses on growing this business.

    Former regional head of client coverage, CCIB, ASEAN and South Asia, Chow Wan Thonh, has been named global head of the bank’s Global Industries Group, Standard Chartered announced in a statement on Thursday.

    Chow joined the bank in 2019, bringing with her over 25 years of experience in the banking industry, having held a number of senior leadership roles in international banks supporting corporate and institutional clients.

    At the same time, Heidi Toribio, who joined the bank in 2013, will replace Chow as Asia co-head of client coverage. She was most recently the bank’s global head of financial institutions. Toribio counts 25 years of banking experience, having previously worked at international banks in a variety of management positions.

    Standard Chartered said the pair have played a key role in accelerating the growth of its CCIB business in Singapore and globally.

    Paul Skelton, Global Head of Client Coverage in CCIB, said in the announcement that corporates’ financing needs are rapidly evolving, as businesses navigate uncertainties while seeking new growth opportunities

  • Sustainable Assets Surge at UBS

    Sustainable Assets Surge at UBS

    UBS maintains momentum in sustainable investments, registering strong asset growth across its asset and wealth management divisions as a result of both market performance and new client demand.

    In 2020, UBS’s global wealth arm saw assets in sustainable portfolios (those defined as 100 percent invested with the consideration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors) exceed $18 billion, $7 billion from inflows alongside even better performance than traditional equivalents, according to a statement.

    The asset management arm also posted strong growth with sustainability-focused assets doubling to $97 billion and ‘Climate Aware’ strategies reaching $15 billion.

    The bank has also successfully met its commitment to raise $5 billion for impact investments related to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), beating the five-year timeline (2017-2021) in the second half of last year.

    Sustainability is no longer just a talking point, but also a catalyst for action said group CEO Ralph Hamers. Investors and companies should seek to get ahead of this transformation if they wish to navigate 21st-century risks and opportunities effectively.

    The bank highlighted Asia as a region of focus for sustainability as a theme not only within investment portfolios but across other areas.

    From our conversations with investors and business owners across Asia, we know that many more are looking to integrate ESG-related aspects in their investment portfolios, business plans and philanthropic ventures, said Desmond Kuek, divisional vice chairman and chair of the bank’s APAC sustainable finance network.

    The statement accompanied a white paper for the World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda Meetings.

    It listed ten sustainable finance trends the bank identified including investor engagement, impact investing, electric transport, net-zero emissions, innovations in big oil, diversity, plant-based meat, climate stress testing, sustainable data and greater data transparency.

  • Techcombank profits sharply up

    Techcombank profits sharply up

    Vietnam’s largest private lender, Techcombank, reported a 23 percent rise in pre-tax profit last year to VND15.8 trillion ($683.62 million).

    It remained the third most profitable bank in the country behind state-owned Vietcombank and VietinBank.

    Its revenues rose 28 percent to VND27 trillion, nearly 70 percent of its interest income. The rest mostly comprised income from fees and securities investment.

    Provisions were up 2.8 times to over VND2.6 trillion as businesses, hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, struggled to repay loans.

    Credit grew at a whopping 23 percent against the country’s average of 10.14 percent.

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  • HSBC Appoints Singapore Commercial Banking Head

    HSBC Appoints Singapore Commercial Banking Head

    HSBC has promoted a Hong Kong corporate banker previously covering the tech sector to become its head of the commercial banking unit in Singapore.

    Regina Lee has been named as HSBC’s Singapore head of commercial banking, according to a statement, effective March 1 this year.

    Lee will replace Alan Turner who will relocate to the commercial banking unit in Canada after three years in Singapore.

    She will report to CEO of HSBC Singapore Tony Cripps and APAC head of commercial banking Stuart Tait.

    Lee has over 20 years experiencing across corporate and commercial banking. She was most recently a managing director of corporate banking in HSBC’s Hong Kong unit where she led the coverage team for TMT (technology, media, and telecommunications), consumer, retail and commodities.

    In addition, Lee has extensive operational and risk management experience as HSBC’s former chief operating officer for the commercial bank in Hong Kong and she also separately oversaw operational risk and control division for commercial banking in the broader APAC region. Previously, she also led business development for HSBC Hong Kong’s global trade and receivables finance business and the commercial banking business in Macau.

    Singapore continues to be a strategic growth market for the group, offering significant opportunities from its increasing status as an international investment hub and springboard to Southeast Asia, Cripps said.

  • Whisky-Backed Securities Trading Goes Live in Singapore

    Whisky-Backed Securities Trading Goes Live in Singapore

    Hg Exchange went live this week with whisky-based asset-backed securities trading, becoming Southeast Asia’s first bourse with the offering.

    Five whisky-linked securities were actively traded through the blockchain-based bourse for the first time yesterday, according to a statement, with total volumes valued at 700,000 British pounds ($956,000).

    Hg Exchange’s (HGX) is a private bourse that features not only whisky-linked securities but also other financial securities such as private equity, venture capital funds, and real estate.

    Its founding partners include Asia-focused financial firms PhillipCapital and PrimePartners alongside private tech platform Fundnel and blockchain platform Zilliqa.

    Demand from Asia in fine whiskeys has grown in recent years concurrently with persistent wealth accumulation. There was a most notable surge in the region during the mid-2010s after the release of the Japanese television series Massan, then a popular drama about a whisky distiller, sparking widespread demand.

    The strongest returns yielded from HGX’s first trading day was from the Port Ellen which saw over 30 percent gains yesterday.

    We are delighted by the positive reaction to this whisky-based asset-backed securities from accredited investors in Singapore, across Asia and around the world, said Gerald Ong, deputy chairman and executive director of PrimePartners Corporate Finance Holdings.

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