OCBC, Southeast Asia’s second largest lender, says that it’s bid for Hong Kong bank Wing Hang will help its ambitions for expansion into greater China.
According to a report by Asian Banking & Finance OCBC Chief Financial Officer, Darren Tan, said Greater China was one of its four core markets together with Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
“Greater China presents excellent prospects for OCBC …therefore, banking with businesses serving the China market onshore and offshore, and developing a customer franchise in Hong Kong, Macau (and Taiwan) to tap into the fast growing offshore yuan market have been a key focus for us.”
The Singapore bank’s launch of a S$127 million private equity fund under the Shanghai Qualified Foreign Limited Partner would seem to support its Greater China ambitions.
Channel New Asia says the new fund will enable OCBC to convert up to S$127 million worth of foreign denominated capital into renminbi which will allow the bank to make direct investments into onshore domestic Chinese companies.
Bank of America in HK court wrangle
Bank of America has been accused of firing a trader who brought in three-quarters of its Asian distressed debt trading group profits to avoid paying her performance bonus, reports Bloomberg.
Sunny Tadjudin is seeking HK$28.3 million ($3.7 million) based on the average of 16.6% of her profit contribution, a percentage she received in bonuses for 2002 to 2004. She was fired in August 2007 for alleged failings including poor communication, and received lower bonuses than she deserved in 2005 and 2006 due to arbitrary performance reviews. She got no bonus in 2007 despite generating 76% of the group’s $28.6 million in profits in the 30-month period, she maintains.
The case is being heard in a Hong Kong court.
Which heads will roll at Deutsche?
Europe’s biggest investment bank by revenue, will review whether to punish senior employees including one of its top executives, Alan Cloete, for their roles in the interest-rate rigging scandal, Bloomberg reports.
Deutsche Bank’s supervisory board will discuss punishments later this month. These include firing or disciplining Cloete — who oversaw traders alleged to have sought to rig benchmark rates – and other employees responsible for how the bank dealt with the scandal.
India mulling enormous expansion of basic banking
The Financial Times reports that the Reserve Bank of India has suggested the creation if simple deposit and withdrawal banks that offer no credit, with recommendations that every citizen should be no further than 15 minutes away from any facility.
This could mean the creation of three million basic electronic access points.
UBS named in Australian interest rate scandal
Only days after being named Australia’s best investment bank in the East Coles’ Investment Banking Research Results for 2013, the Australian arm of UBS has been forced to review internal processes and put $1 million towards financial literacy after some staff tried to manipulate a key local interest rate.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Australian Securities and Investments Commission said UBS last year gave evidence that staff were trying to influence submissions to the bank bill swap rate.