Global Banking News
Global Banking News provides up-to-the-minute news on all aspects of the global banking and insurance sectors and is essential reading for anyone following this fast-moving 24-hour industry. Global Banking News offers concise, unbiased reporting of all significant events in this truly global business.
Below you will find a recent sample of the publication.
Banks to launch EU share market
Amidst concerns about rising trading costs in the London Stock Exchange and other European exchanges, investment banks are coming together to create a new system for trading in shares.
Big investment banks are to create a new pan-European system for trading shares that is expected to rival Europe's top stock exchanges. The computerised system may become operational before a new EU directive on trading in financial products comes into force next month. The cost of trading in the US is reportedly 80 percent lower than in Europe.
The new system is to be owned by Citigroup (NYSE: C), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MSZ), Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER), UBS (NYSE: UBS), Credit Suisse (CSGKF.PK) and Deutsche Bank (LSE: DBK).
GE capital to buy stake in Bank of Ayudhya
GE Capital International Holdings Corporation (GE) (NYSE: GE), the consumer finance unit of General Electric Company, has agreed to buy a stake in Bank of Ayudhya Pcl (BKAHF.PK), which is considered to be Thailand's sixth-largest lender by assets.
The bank announced that GE had committed itself to buying a 25.4 percent stake for about USD598m. GE has given a written confirmation for buying the shares, and it is expected that the company will complete the transaction by January 10, 2007. Bank of Ayudhya had allowed extra time for GE Capital to confirm its share purchase.
China urged to use forex reserves
China has been urged to use its excess foreign exchange resources to buy other strategic resources.
Xia Bin, a researcher with the Development Research Centre, said that the government could also think about setting up an independent investment unit to manage its excess foreign reserves. China's finance ministry could also issue special bonds to raise yuan and buy US dollars from the central bank, which could then be used to buy strategic resources overseas. According to Xia, the optimal foreign exchange reserve holdings for China would be about USD700bn.
Earlier, central bank officials had maintained that forex exchange reserves are an asset of the central bank and so must be purchased before they can be spent.
Citigroup wins final regulatory approval for GDB deal
A consortium led by Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C) has won final approval from the China Banking Regulatory Commission for its USD3.1bn purchase of 85.6 percent of Guangdong Development Bank (GDB).
The CBRC approval, which marks the end of over a year-long battle between Citigroup and France’s Societe Generale (PA: SOGN) for control of GDB, would result in a restructuring of the troubled southern China lender.
Citigroup, China Life Insurance Company (HKG: 2628) and China’s State Grid Corporation will take 20 percent each of GDB, while China’s CITIC Investment and Puhua Investment will take 12.85 percent and eight percent respectively. International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) will own 4.74 percent of the bank.
Citigroup, which has applied for local incorporation in China under the new rules, is also negotiating with Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (600000.SS) to increase its stake to the maximum allowable 19.9 percent, from below five percent presently.
Tacoma startup bank exceeds investment target
Tacoma-based Commencement Bank (Commencement) has reported that the start-up community bank far exceeded its investment target as the bank opens doors for business.
Commencement, which had announced its formation in April 2006, has attracted over USD23m in investor cash, exceeding the regulatory limit of USD22m. The bank received final approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in early December.
Hal Russell, Commencement's president and chief executive officer, had earlier said that his bank would significantly benefit from the booming Tacoma economy, which lacks smaller community banks. Tacoma's last startup bank, Columbia Bank (NASDAQ:CBMD), which was founded in 1993, has since grown into the state's fourth-largest bank.
