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Tag: Finance

  • StanChart Profits Plunge and Miss Estimates

    StanChart Profits Plunge and Miss Estimates

    Profits at Standard Chartered more than halved in 2020 and miss analyst estimates, according to its latest annual results.

    Standard Chartered posted $1.61 billion in pre-tax profits for 2020, a 57 percent plunge compared to 2019’s $3.71 billion.

    It also missed the average forecast of $1.85 billion, according to analyst estimates compiled by the bank.

    Credit impairments increased from $1.4 billion to $2.3 billion.

    According to the bank, the impact of global interest rates will cause income levels in 2021 to be similar to 2020, though credit impairments are expected to decrease.

    The bank also forecasts annual income growth of 5-7 percent to return in 2022.

    Returns in 2020 were clearly impacted by higher provisions, reduced economic activity and low-interest rates, in each case the result of COVID-19,» said Bill Winters, Standard Chartered group chief executive.

  • HSBC Expands China Private Banking Footprint

    HSBC Expands China Private Banking Footprint

    HSBC continues to voice its ambitions to pivot to Asia with plans to extend its onshore private banking services to ten mainland cities in the coming five years.

    Days after securing $3.5 billion in investments for its wealth unit over the next five years, HSBC reiterated its ambitions in Asia, home to nearly half of the bank’s $1.6 trillion of wealth balance and 65 percent of group revenue.

    Regional head of wealth and personal banking Greg Hingston set out plans for the mainland market during this five-year period including the extension of private banking to ten cities onshore and the doubling of its client base for Jade – a segment targeting clients with a $1-5 million in investable assets (the private bank targets clients with $5 million or more), according to a statement.

    Hinston said the bank also aims to double its Jade client base in Singapore and become a lead foreign bank for non-resident Indians.

    The bank also reiterated its hiring goals with plans to add more than 5,000 client-facing wealth-related roles in the next five years. These roles include relationship managers, investment counselors and specialists to support clients in Hong Kong, Singapore, and mainland China.

    The bank also underlined its intention to improve its distribution in the three markets; digital and platform capabilities in the broader region; and product development, especially for high and ultra-high net worth clients.

    We have a bold but achievable ambition, to be Asia’s leading wealth management provider by 2025, said Nuno Matos, HSBC’s chief executive for wealth and personal banking.

  • StanChart CEO Signals He Will Stay on the Job

    StanChart CEO Signals He Will Stay on the Job

    Despite rumors of Bill Winter’s potential exit, the 59-year old chief executive said he would stay with Standard Chartered following a 2020 that saw profits miss analyst targets and plummet 57 percent.

    Although rumors of an exit emerged earlier this year with investment and commercial banking chief Simon Cooper reportedly named as a potential successor, Bill Winters publicly reassured of his stay with the British lender.

    Don’t let the grey hair fool you,» said Winters, during a media call for the bank’s 2020 financial results. «I came here to do a job – the job is not yet done.

    Winters was named group chief for Standard Chartered in 2015 and will celebrate his sixth full year with the bank in June this year.“

    That job is a mandate to return to growth after pre-tax profits in 2020 plunged 57 percent to $1.61 billion, missing analyst estimates of $1.85 billion while returning just 3 percent on tangible equity (ROTE), well below its longer-term target of 10 percent.

    While the bank noted that low-interest rates will likely cause 2021 to yield similar income levels as last year it was confident that it would reverse momentum quickly with plans to achieve 5-7 percent income growth from 2022 onwards. The is done with the aim of achieving 7 percent ROTE by 2023 to meet its longer-term target of more than 10 percent ROTE.

    The bank highlighted its refreshed strategic priorities which focus on four areas: leveraging its network, maintaining its affluent business, scaling up its mass retail business and capitalizing on opportunities in sustainability. a

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  • HSBC Replaces Singapore Chief

    HSBC Replaces Singapore Chief

    HSBC has named a new Singapore chief executive to succeed Tony Cripps who is set to leave and join Saudi British Bank.

    Wong Kee Joo has been appointed as HSBC’s new Singapore CEO, according to a report citing an internal memo.

    Wong replaces Tony Cripps who is set to become the managing director-designate and board member of the Saudi British Bank (SABB), where HSBC is the largest shareholder at 31 percent, effective April 4.

    Before Wong takes on the new role on June 1, HSBC Singapore’s chief operating officer Olfert De Wit will act as the interim Singapore CEO.

    Wong is currently the Asia Pacific head for global liquidity and cash management and according to HSBC’s deputy chairman and chief executive Peter Wong, such a role has enabled «strong experience in developing digital solutions for wholesale clients and supporting the trade and investment flows between China and ASEAN.

    He had also previously worked in various markets including the U.K., Thailand, Hong Kong, and mainland China.

    We will be increasing our investment in both people and technology as we continue to strengthen our wholesale banking services and to grasp the growing wealth management opportunities in Southeast Asia and beyond, the memo said.

  • Credit Pressures Drag HSBC Profits Lower

    Credit Pressures Drag HSBC Profits Lower

    Credit impairment charges dragged HSBC profits lower in 2020 but it still managed to beat analyst estimates.

    Pre-tax profits fell 34 percent at HSBC in 2020 due to higher expected credit losses and lower revenue, according to a statement from the bank. This includes a 10 percent drop in revenues to $50.4 billion, attributed to the impact of lower interest rates and a $1.3 billion asset impairment charge from software intangibles.

    This beat profit forecasts of $8.3 billion, according to analyst estimates compiled by HSBC.

    For the fourth quarter, it posted a 10 percent drop in revenues with a 50 percent drop in adjusted profit before tax to $2.2 billion.

    The bank announced that it would be resuming dividend payments after a long pause since the fourth quarter of 2019.

    This was a difficult decision and we deeply regret the impact it has had on our shareholders, said HSBC group chairman Mark Tucker.

    We are therefore pleased to restart dividend payments at the earliest opportunity. The Board has announced an interim dividend of $0.15 for 2020, and adopted a policy designed to provide sustainable dividends in the future.

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  • UBS Enlists More Firepower for Parisian Appeal

    UBS Enlists More Firepower for Parisian Appeal

    Swiss bank UBS secured a coterie of Europe’s political and legal elite for its side, as it heads into the appeal of a high-stakes criminal verdict in France.

    On March 8, UBS’ legal team under chief lawyer Markus Diethelm and Allen & Overy’s Denis Chemla head back to criminal court in Paris, in an attempt to overturn a 2019 guilty verdict attached to a 4.5 billion ($5 billion) fine against the wealth manager.

    Much like UBS’ 2008 settlement in the U.S. for $780 million, the French case represents a watershed for Switzerland’s wider banking industry. Others including crosstown rival Credit Suisse are closely watching UBS’ case, which is expected to set precedent for other Swiss wealth managers.

    UBS is enlisting European political nobility including ex-European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker and former German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and Peer Steinbrueck on its side.

    It is hard to overstate the importance of the French trial for UBS: besides the huge financial impact, the case caused shareholders to deny the Swiss bank’s top management and board a key backing two years ago. UBS is pulling out all the stops as a result.

    The influential politicians join an armada of advisers to UBS, including ex-German politician Theo Waigel. The addition of Steinbrueck is especially ironic: the German politician in 2012 threatened to send a financial cavalry to Switzerland to root out tax dodgers and cheats – a tone that was perceived as tactless by Swiss diplomats.

    The reason the politicians are so key to UBS’ appeal is that the bank plans to make a European Union guideline from 2003 a key part of its argument to the court, which hears the entire case anew. The directive safeguarded cross-border interest payments and required Swiss banks to notify EU member states if their citizens were earning interest in wealth held in Switzerland.

    It was superseded four years ago when Switzerland began adopting automatic data-swapping agreements with the bloc. A big part of UBS’ new defense plan is that a large portion of French wealth held at UBS wasn’t undeclared – the bank had also been passing on withholding tax to France, though French officials wouldn’t have known who the money stemmed from.

    Waigel, an ally of former German chancellor Helmut Kohl, was instrumental in drafting the EU directive in the late 1990s. Together with his former negotiating partners, the ex-politico is reportedly being deployed to reconstruct the decades-old plan in order to support UBS’ defense. The trial was set for last June but postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic.

    This agreement allows Swiss banks to manage foreign assets while maintaining banking secrecy,» Swiss lawyer and academicPeter Nobel, who is also advising UBS, told the Swiss outlet. If the French justice system retroactively criminalizes this as money laundering, it is violating an agreement of international law.

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  • HSBC Investment Strategists Named to Expanded Roles

    HSBC Investment Strategists Named to Expanded Roles

    HSBC makes three new appointments to oversee the overall investment strategy across the newly merged wealth unit.

    The bank appoints Fan Cheuk Wan as Asia chief investment officer (CIO) for private banking and wealth management, according to a statement. In her expanded role, she will oversee investment strategies and themes across all asset classes for the bank’s affluent and super affluent segment, Premier and Jade, respectively, in addition to the private banking segment.

    Fan is a wealth industry veteran and joined HSBC’s private banking arm in 2016. She previously worked with Credit Suisse, ABN AMRO, Cazenove, BNP Paribas and Standard Chartered.

    In addition, the bank has also appointed Patrick Ho as the North Asia CIO and James Cheo as the Southeast Asia CIO for the unit. This is also an expanded role for Ho and Cheo who previously solely served the private bank.

    Ho joined HSBC Private Banking in 2017 and previously worked with Credit Suisse, UBS, Bear Sterns and BNP Paribas. Cheo rejoined in 2019 and previously worked with Barclays.

    The wealth and personal banking division was created in early last year by merging retail banking and wealth management, asset management, insurance and private banking to create a unit with $1.5 trillion in assets as of the third quarter of 2020.

  • 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.