Categories: Banking

Fixing China's Banks: The Next Round

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on September 05

No rest for China's weary banking reformers. Over the summer, they got Agricultural Bank of China over the finish line, with the state-owned bank pulling off the world's largest IPO....

Demand Grows Despite H-1B Fight, TCS Exec Says

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on August 18

The chop-shop fallout continues. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) caused an uproar in India recently after he called Indian IT outsourcing companies chop shops during debate on a proposal to double...

Japanese banks: More bad news for Cerberus-backed Aozora

Posted by: Ian Rowley on June 04

More trouble at Aozora, the Japanese bank owned by U.S. private equity giant Cerberus. According to reports in Tokyo, Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission raided Aozora's offices today amid...

HSBC's Flockhart Goes into Damage Control Mode

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on March 10

It was standing room only on the 40th Floor of HSBC's splendid Hong Kong headquarters. Clearly the Bank [as it is known here in Hong Kong] had put the PR...

Bank of America Raises Stake in China Construction Bank

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on November 18

At first glance, the decision by Bank of America to nearly double its stake in China Construction Bank [CCB]seems like a curious move. After all, China’s economy is just starting...

Japan's Shinsei Bank Swaps American Chief For 79-Year-Old Predecessor

Posted by: Ian Rowley on November 12

For the most part, Japan's biggest banks are proving reasonably resilient during the current financial crisis. There have been no bailouts and the biggest of them all, Mitsubishi UFJ, has...

Korean Mandarins Are Slow in Handling Crisis

Posted by: Ihlwan Moon on October 15

President Lee Myung Bak’s administration has repeatedly stressed that its priority is reinvigorating the South Korean economy. Yet Korea’s policymakers don’t seem to be in a hurry to stop the...

Ping An Insurance dodges bullet on Fortis Bank Deal

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on October 03

Executives at Ping An Insurance must be breathing a collective sigh of relief. A deal for the Chinese company to pay about $3 billion for a 50% stake in Fortis'...

China has More Super Rich than Japan

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on September 25

Chalk up another one for China. Not only does it have the biggest haul of Olympic gold medals. Now it can claim the most super rich individuals in Asia. According...

Japan's Banks to the Rescue

Posted by: Kenji Hall on September 22

Who would’ve guessed that the Japanese would come to the rescue in a U.S. banking crisis? The first inkling of this was Mizuho Financial Group’s $1.2-billion stake in Merrill Lynch...

Japanese Banks: Exposed or Not?

Posted by: Kenji Hall on July 15

Are Japan’s mega-banks vulnerable to the U.S. mortgage crisis? Some investors obviously felt that way today. The worrywarts drove the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index 2% lower to a 3...

GE to raise over $5.4 billion through Japan sale

Posted by: Ian Rowley on July 11

More signs of life in Japan's banking sector. A few weeks ago I wrote a story about Japan's biggest banks, emboldened by relative low subprime losses, are shopping around. Today,...

China has more millionaires than France

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on July 02

Ooh la la! According to the 2008 Merrill Lynch and Capgemini World Wealth Report China now boasts more millionaires than France. At the end of last year China weighed...

No Imminent Seal for HSBC’s Korean Bank Purchase

Posted by: Ihlwan Moon on April 29

HSBC Holdings isn’t likely to finalize the planned purchase of Korea Exchange Bank any time soon, with the London-based bank extending the expiry of the contract, originally due on Apr....

CIC executive defends China's sovereign fund

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on April 03

Jesse Wang, vice president and chief risk officer of China’s $200 billion sovereign fund, the China Investment Corporation or CIC, launched a major PR effort yesterday at Hong Kong ballroom...

Mizuho stock sinks on Merrill deal

Posted by: Ian Rowley on January 16

Mizuho execs might have expected more following the first big investment by a Japanese bank in a U.S. rival in twenty years, but it wasn't to be. Today, shares in...

China Cleans Up Policy Bank

Posted by: Ihlwan Moon on December 31

(My Beijing-based colleague Chi-Chu Tschang wrote the following. Respecting China’s tradition, Chi-Chu filed it well before the turn of the year.) It’s a Chinese tradition to clean house and pay...