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Habib Bank closing NY branch following penalty; other regulatory, legal news * Pakistan's Habib Bank Ltd. decided to shut down its branch in New York as it vowed to contest a potential regulatory penalty of up to US$629.6 million in connection with a case regarding its noncompliance with anti-money laundering protocols in the U.S. * The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority said it intends to initiate an independent inquiry into governance, culture and accountability practices within Commonwealth Bank of Australia following the bank's alleged violations of anti-money laundering laws. * The China Banking Regulatory Commission is looking to tighten its oversight over the country's policy lenders, releasing draft laws for Export-Import Bank of China and Agricultural Development Bank of China. M&A updates * KASIKORNBANK PCL acquired a 9.99% stake in PT Bank Maspion Indonesia Tbk as it seeks to further expand in the region. * Commonwealth Bank of Australia completed the acquisition of the remaining 20% stake it did not hold in Aussie Home Loans. * CDC Group Plc, a U.K. government-owned development finance institution, cut its stake in India's Ujjivan Financial Services Ltd. to 1.91% from 6.84%. * Magma Fincorp Ltd. completed its acquisition of a 26% stake in joint venture unit Magma ITL Finance Ltd. from International Tractors Ltd. * Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. and Resona Holdings Inc. plan to name the company that holds their merged bank units Kansai Mirai Financial Group. In other news * Postal Savings Bank of China Co. Ltd. is seeking to list its shares in Shanghai after conducting its successful IPO in Hong Kong in 2016. * China Merchants Bank Co. Ltd. is reportedly considering acquiring U.K. private banking operations to meet local financial regulatory requirements. * Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Ujjivan Financial Services Ltd., received scheduled bank status from the Indian central bank. * Moody's downgraded IDBI Bank Ltd.'s deposit and senior unsecured ratings to B1 from Ba2 due to a reduction in extraordinary support from the Indian government incorporated into its ratings, its extremely weak capitalization and weak asset quality. * S&P Global Ratings raised its outlook on Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank, or Techombank, to stable from negative.
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Habib Bank closing NY branch following penalty; other regulatory, legal news
* Pakistan's Habib Bank Ltd. decided to shut down its branch in New York as it vowed to contest a potential regulatory penalty of up to US$629.6 million in connection with a case regarding its noncompliance with anti-money laundering protocols in the U.S.
* The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority said it intends to initiate an independent inquiry into governance, culture and accountability practices within Commonwealth Bank of Australia following the bank's alleged violations of anti-money laundering laws.
* The China Banking Regulatory Commission is looking to tighten its oversight over the country's policy lenders, releasing draft laws for Export-Import Bank of China and Agricultural Development Bank of China. The draft laws seek to clarify the policy function of the two banks to focus on policy lending, as well as enhance their risk management and control abilities, among other things.
* AFFIN Holdings Bhd.'s major shareholder, Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera, received approval from Securities Commission Malaysia to be exempted from a mandatory takeover of AFFIN Bank Bhd. upon the completion of AFFIN's proposed reorganization.
* New Zealand's Commerce Commission is suing peer-to-peer lender Harmoney Ltd. and unit Harmoney Investor Trustee Ltd. for allegedly charging customers unreasonable credit fees. The commission filed a civil lawsuit against the companies at the High Court of New Zealand in Auckland.
* Bank of Korea kept its base rate unchanged at 1.25% as it expects growth and inflation to be in line with forecasts.
China's four largest banks by assets post increases in H1 profit
* Bank of China Ltd. posted a year-over-year increase in net profit for the six-month period ended June 30 to 103.69 billion yuan from 93.04 billion yuan.
* China Construction Bank Corp. reported a 3.69% year-over-year increase in net profit for the first half to 138.34 billion yuan from 133.41 billion yuan.
* Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd.'s first-half net profit rose year over year to 153.00 billion yuan from 150.22 billion yuan.
* Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. posted a year-over-year rise in consolidated first-half net profit attributable to equity holders to 108.59 billion yuan from 105.15 billion yuan, mainly driven by a rise in both net interest income and other noninterest income.
M&A updates
* KASIKORNBANK PCL acquired a 9.99% stake in PT Bank Maspion Indonesia Tbk as it seeks to further expand in the region.
* Commonwealth Bank of Australia completed the acquisition of the remaining 20% stake it did not hold in Aussie Home Loans.
* CDC Group Plc, a U.K. government-owned development finance institution, cut its stake in India's Ujjivan Financial Services Ltd. to 1.91% from 6.84%.
* Magma Fincorp Ltd. completed its acquisition of a 26% stake in joint venture unit Magma ITL Finance Ltd. from International Tractors Ltd.
* Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. and Resona Holdings Inc. plan to name the company that holds their merged bank units Kansai Mirai Financial Group. Resona is expected to take a stake of more than 50% in the new company, while Sumitomo Mitsui's stake is expected to be about 20%.
* Shinhan Financial Group Co. Ltd. unit Shinhan Bank Co. Ltd. reportedly submitted a final bid for a 20% stake in Philippines-based East West Banking Corp.
* Fubon Financial Holding Co. Ltd. unit Fubon Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd. plans to invest up to 480 million Chinese yuan to maintain its shareholding in China-based Xiamen Bank Co. Ltd. at the maximum regulatory permissible level of 19.99%.
In other news
* Postal Savings Bank of China Co. Ltd. is seeking to list its shares in Shanghai after conducting its successful IPO in Hong Kong in 2016.
* China Merchants Bank Co. Ltd. is reportedly considering acquiring U.K. private banking operations to meet local financial regulatory requirements.
* Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Ujjivan Financial Services Ltd., received scheduled bank status from the Indian central bank.
* Moody's downgraded IDBI Bank Ltd.'s deposit and senior unsecured ratings to B1 from Ba2 due to a reduction in extraordinary support from the Indian government incorporated into its ratings, its extremely weak capitalization and weak asset quality.
* S&P Global Ratings raised its outlook on Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank, or Techombank, to stable from negative. Meanwhile, the rating agency lowered its outlook on Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry & Trade, or Vietinbank, to negative from stable.
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Copyright SNL Financial LC Sep 01, 2017