Thailand Financial News

Fitch Ratings (Thailand) Limited has today withdrawn the ‘A(tha)’ expected rating of Eternal 4 Special Purpose Vehicle Company Limited’s Class C debentures due to the cancellation of the issuance of the aforementioned notes. Contacts: Orawan Karoonkornsakul, Napachak Phasukavanich, Vincent Milton, Thailand, Tel: +662 655 4755.
(more…)

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) has approved new listings on the Bond Electronic Exchange (BEX) from Bank of Thailand worth THB 70,000 million (about USD 2,017.29 million). Details of the issues are as follows: -      BOT50/58/7D, worth THB 10,000 million with a 7-day maturity and due on July 3, 2007, will commence trading on June 27, 2007, using “CB07703A” as its trading symbol.

-      BOT50/59/14D, worth THB 20,000 million with a 14-day maturity and due on July 10, 2007, will commence trading on June 27, 2007, using “CB07710A” as its trading symbol.
(more…)

The Bank of New York ADR Index has been selected by Mirae Asset MAPS Investment Management Company for the launch of its Mirae Asset Maps Equity Investment Trust Fund. The Korean- domiciled Mirae Asset Maps Latin Index Equity Investment Trust Fund will benchmark against The Bank of New York Latin America 35 ADR Index.

Jung-gi Yeo, director and head of the Product Development Division at Mirae Asset MAPS, said, “The Bank of New York has demonstrated its ability to understand and respond to the specific requirements of our sophisticated local investors.
(more…)

Fitch Ratings has affirmed the ratings of Bank of Queensland (BoQ), removed them from Rating Watch Positive (RWP) and assigned the Long-term Foreign Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) a Positive Outlook. At the same time the ratings of Bendigo Bank Limited (BBL) were affirmed.
(more…)

The Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation Limited (HKMC) today (26 June) published its Annual Report for 2006.

“Year 2007 will be pivotal for the HKMC as it seeks to expand new lines of businesses. The long-term strategy for the Corporation will help to maintain the viability and ability of the Corporation to provide liquidity to the banks when necessary and also position the Corporation as a market leader that can share its expertise and contribute to market development in the region, thereby reinforcing Hong Kong’s position as an international financial centre.” said the Hon.
(more…)

Temenos Group (SWX: TEMN), the provider of integrated core banking systems, has announced that Swedbank, an established Nordic-Baltic universal bank, has gone live with Temenos T24 (T24) in its Shanghai office. By deploying T24, the company’s modular core banking system, Swedbank meets local regulatory requirements and so can now offer full corporate banking services in China.
(more…)

China & India to lead the pack through rapid organic growth and M&A

The banking sector will grow significantly faster than GDP in the ‘E7’ emerging economies of China, India, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey, according to new projections in a PricewaterhouseCoopers’ report ‘Banking in 2050: How big will the emerging markets get?’ Total profits from domestic banking in the E7 could be around half those in the G7 (US, Japan, Germany, UK, France, Italy and Canada) by 2025 and larger than in the G7 before 2050.
(more…)

Albaraka Banking Group (ABG), one of the world’s foremost Islamic Banking specialists, has signed an agreement to use Misys Equation (Islamic) to streamline operations, improve the retail and Islamic banking services it provides its customers, and enable the bank to expand into new territories.

The solution from Misys will be implemented in three of ABG’s subsidiary headquarters in Bahrain over the next twelve months and in Beirut and Durban thereafter, rolling it out at the same time across the three countries’ branch networks.
(more…)

The Kingdom of Bahrain’s prominence as the undisputed banking and finance hub of the region was once again reaffirmed with the announcement of another new bank establishing operations in Bahrain.

Global Banking Corporation [GBCORP] is a new investment bank incorporated in Bahrain with paid up capital of US$250 million.
(more…)

Fitch Ratings has just released a report on the Taiwanese banking sector titled “Taiwanese Banks: Annual Review and Outlook”, which discussed Taiwanese banks’ 2006/2007 performances, the latest developments in the troubled unsecured consumer lending segment, and key rating issues in 2007/2008.

The report summarises the rating agency’s rating actions on the Taiwanese banking sector between 2006 and 2007 to date, where negative rating actions have largely outnumbered positive rating actions.
(more…)