Regional/ International

Goldman Sachs has named Mark Schwartz as chairman of its Asia Pacific unit which will be based in Beijing.

India, Malaysia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Taiwan have been exempted from US sanctions after reducing their oil-related transactions with the Central Bank of Iran.

Russia’s Sberbank has acquired Turkey-based Denizbank from Belgium’s Dexia for $3.53 billion.

US-based Silicon Valley Bank, which provides services to technology companies, has opened its first UK branch in London which will provide a full range of financial services including current and deposit accounts, loans, cash management services and currency exchange.

Middle East

Qatar’s Masraf Al Tayan will be acquiring a 70% stake in Bank of Britain, a stand-alone Shariah-compliant bank based in the UK.

France’s BNP Paribas will be selling off its retail banking unit in Egypt in order to increase its capital. The bank has 70 branches in the country, with an estimated worth of $400 million.

Qatar-based directors of Syria International Islamic Bank have resigned from their roles to comply with US sanctions against the bank.

Indochina

Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission, the country’s banking regulator, has approved E.Sun Commercial Bank’s plan to set up a representative office in Yangon, Myanmar.

Taiwan’s Cathay United Bank will be acquiring a 70% stake in Cambodia’s SBC Bank, to help the bank provide better services to Taiwanese investors operating in Cambodia and Vietnam.

South Asia

Qatar's Doha Bank has applied to the Reserve Bank of India for a license to start operations in India, with a focus on wholesale banking.

State Bank of Pakistan, the country’s central bank, has allowed Sindh Bank to open 100 branches across the country this year.

Bangladesh Bank, the country’s central bank, has issued a new deadline for six commercial banks to launch mobile banking capabilities, following their earlier failure to do so. The banks’ mobile banking operating license may be cancelled if they fail to comply with the extended deadlines.

Australia/New Zealand

Carolyn Hewson, a member of Westpac’s Board of Directors, will retire at the end of the month after serving the bank for 10 years.

ANZ has named Jimmy Choi as head of debt capital markets for Asia. Choi, who previously served with Merill Lynch, will be based in Hong Kong.

China

CBRC has instructed banks to assess loans to credit guarantee firms and step up checks on the sector, after a series of incidents exposed how participants were misusing client funds and were involved in the shadow banking sector.

PBoC has named Pan Gongsheng, formerly vice president and executive director at Agricultural Bank of China, as vice governor and Wang Huaqing, who previously served as secretary of discipline inspection at CBRC, as head of its disciplinary committee.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the country’s central bank, will start providing renminbi loans to the city’s banks to prevent a liquidity shortage that might destabilize the offshore renminbi market.

China Construction Bank plans to double its renminbi-denominated assets to a fifth of its total assets of $17.4 billion by 2014.

Indonesia

Bank Indonesia deputy governor Halim Alamsyah has said that state-owned banks, such as Bank Mandiri and Bank Rakyat Indonesia, and banks in the middle of a recovery will not be subject to new regulatory limits on stake purchases.

Bank Jabar Banten announced that it has completed the establishment of 429 new Waroeng BJB credit services units last month, with the units to increase the bank’s credit distribution to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises.

Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Bank Negara Indonesia, Bank Mandiri and Bank Jatim have agreed to provide a $207 million loan to Transmarga Jatim Pasuruan to construct a toll road in East Java which will connect the Gempol and Grati districts.

Japan

Japanese lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties are drafting bills to revise the Bank of Japan Law in a bid to push for greater control over the Bank of Japan, following complaints that the central bank isn’t acting aggressively enough to combat the country’s deflation.

Shinsei Bank will purchase Llyods TSB Bank’s Japanese remittance operations, with the acquisition anticipated to cost less than $13 million. As part of the transaction, Shinsei Bank will inherit the existing customer base and service offerings built up by Llyods TSB Bank.

A total of 10 banks, including Nomura Securities and JPMorgan Securities Japan, have been shortlisted by Japan’s finance ministry to underwrite the government’s planned sale of its stake in Japan Tobacco, with sale of the firm’s shares to raise funds for reconstruction following last year’s earthquake and tsunami.

Korea, South

Woori Financial Group has said that it will take legal action against illegal money lenders that use its name to procure business, after recently filing criminal charges against a similar entity that used Woori’s name and logo for violation of trademark laws to the Seoul Central Prosecutor’s Office.

Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, Kim Seok-dong, is confident that the Seoul government would win a case against Lone Star Funds over its claim for damages regarding the sale of the Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), after the investment firm threatened to initiate arbitration against the Korean government for delaying sale of its controlling stake in KEB.

Malaysia

CIMB has appointed David Thomas, former chief risk officer at Royal Bank of Scotland, Asia Pacific, to work in its head office in Kuala Lumpur. CIMB’s recruitment of Thomas follows the bank’s acquisition of RBS Asia Pacific’s cash equity and investment bank business.

JPMorgan Worldwide Securities Services has rolled out its securities lending capabilities in Malaysia and aims to offer securities lending solutions to prime brokers and clients with Malaysian assets.

Maybank has acquired a 5.95% stake in Luster Industries, a manufacturer of plastic parts and components for $20.3 million, with the subscription made pursuant to the exercise of debt to equity conversion in accordance with a debt settlement agreement involving Luster.

The Philippines

BDO Unibank plans to raise $1 billion, through sale of its shares in a rights offer, to compete for infrastructure lending. The bank aims to reduce dependence on consumer loans by tapping credit demand from organisations bidding for $16 billion in infrastructure projects unveiled in 2010.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has lifted restrictions on branch expansion in metropolitan areas, allowing banks to put up as many branches as they want and in as many locations as they intend to as long as their capital supports such expansion.

1st Valley Bank, a rural bank with 22 branch offices, has held talks with a foreign venture fund interested in investing in the bank. The bank has also applied for a thrift bank license with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to fulfil the foreign investment requirement.

The Philippine Deposit insurance Corporation (PDIC) has taken over the Rural Bank of Banayoyo (RB Banayoyo) after the Monetary Board issued a resolution and placed the rural bank under the receivership of PDIC. RB Banayoyo is a single-unit bank and has 324 accounts, with total deposit liabilities of $100,000.

Singapore

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has agreed to sell its Singapore-based private wealth management business but declined to identify the buyer, with the deal set to close next year and pending regulatory approval.

Standard Chartered Private Bank has announced the imminent launch of its suite of Islamic financial solutions for clients, with the solutions including fiduciary deposits, property financing, mutual funds, Islamic bonds, third-party structured products, and more.

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has launched dual currency trading for exchange-traded funds (ETF) in Singapore to provide investors with trading flexibility. SGX is working with issuers BlackRock’s iShare and CIMB-Principal Asset Management to offer seven ETFs with a secondary trading counter in Singapore dollars.

Bank of China (BoC) has set up an oil products trading desk in Singapore to capitalise on the country’s clout in energy markets, with its three-member team in Singapore to primarily trade fuel oil and some distillates.

Taiwan

Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission has rejected an application made by insurance firm, AXA Group to re-establish a branch on the island on concerns over its long-term commitment, with the firm having twice exited Taiwan in the past.

Bank of China and Bank of Communications will be allowed to engage in limited business after receiving approval from Taiwan’s financial regulator to establish a branch each in Taipei, the first by the Chinese banks on the island.

A Carlyle Group-led consortium has shelved its plan to sell a controlling stake in Ta Chong Bank because offers from potential buyers, including Fubon and Yuanta Financial Holding Companies, did not meet its expectation.

Thailand

Former Bank Harapan Sentosa director Sherny Kojongian Saroha has been extradited from the US and handed over to Indonesian authorities to begin serving a 20-year prison sentence, having been convicted of a $260 million fraud scheme in 2002.

TMB Bank has introduced a new transactional banking account, “One Bank, One Account”, for small to medium-sized enterprises and corporate clients. The account offers fee-free cash withdrawals, money transfers and cheque clearing for inter-regional transactions.

Government Savings Bank chairwoman, Pannee Sathavarodom has insisted that she will continue to serve as head of a search committee tasked with vetting candidates for the next president of the bank, despite finance minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong saying it is inappropriate for a chairwoman to do so, though no explicit prohibition has been made.