RSS feedbank of china
’Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Tuesday,
- Bank of China halts FX swaps with European banks — report.
- Debenhams says full year profits will be ahead of expectations — statement.
- Gulf Keystone Petroleum raises $200m via equity issue priced at 140p a share — statement.
Credit Suisse slashes Chinese banks
Credit Suisse on Monday joined those bashing China’s useless banks, downgrading the sector to underweight due to “asset quality concerns”.
As ever, definitional and measurement issues ensure that one man’s NPL is another man’s PL.
Contingent liabilities, letter of credit edition
The Lehman Crisis of 2008 had a conflicting effect on the use of letters of credit (LCs) in trade finance and collateral markets.
On the one hand, companies using LCs issued by what were then considered vulnerable institutions got locked out of markets as suppliers and trade partners refused to accept the paper for fear of bankruptcy exposure.
China’s banks, more liquid-hot than ever
And the great Chinese credit bubble leap forward continues, with Tuesday’s datapoint coming from Bank of China.
After all, the bank led the charge on Tuesday with some really not too shabby results.
Asia’s local currency bonds are looking pretty good
If you’re sitting in the eurozone, Asia’s local currency bond markets might look distant – and small. But this haven of relative tranquility is enjoying robust growth amid the turmoil roiling eurozone markets.
China: First the banks, now the corporates
First it was the banks and now, in a slightly less dramatic but possibly more potent warning to any investor who ever contemplated buying shares in a listed Chinese company, it’s the corporates. As the FT reports on Thursday:
Now Chinese banks are under-capitalised
What happens when you go on a stimulus-funded lending frenzy? Apparently, you do eventually run out of cash.
As Bloomberg reports on Tuesday:
Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) — China’s five largest banks submitted preliminary plans for raising capital to the industry regulator after they extended unprecedented amounts of new loans this year,
Chinese $11.7bn bond issue planned
The subsidiary of China’s sovereign wealth fund that controls the country’s largest state-owned banks is planning to sell bonds in the interbank market for the first time, in what could be China’s biggest bond issue to date,
Bank of China to launch fund of funds
Bank of China is planning to launch a fund to invest in hedge funds, the latest sign of keen Chinese interest in the alternative investment industry. The new fund of funds will be launched next year and will be offered via Bank of China Suisse,
Bank of China sees earnings fall
Bank of China, the country’s third-largest lender, reported a 2.5% drop in first-half earnings despite an unprecedented lending spree that saw its total outstanding loans rise 38% in six months. BoC extended Rmb896.3bn ($131.2bn) of new loans in the first half,
Lehman notes for the mentally ill — plumbing the depths
One might think there really isn’t anything left that could shock anyone after all the revelations stemming from the global financial crisis – not just about the packaging and sale of toxic assets but more broadly,
BoC’s French bank deal fails
Bank of China’s plan to buy a stake in a French private bank has collapsed after it tried to renegotiate the purchase price on Beijing’s orders. La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild refused to sell a 20% stake to the Chinese lender at a lower price than the €236m ($317m) agreed in September,
Goldman’s required (Chinese) reading
Never one to pass up a chance to make money – or to let go of a lucrative project in-hand – Goldman Sachs has shown some uncharacteristic uncertainty over its maybe-maybe-not deliberations about whether to sell down its 4.9 per cent stake in Industrial and Commercial Bank of China – described by Bloomberg on Thursday as “the world’s most profitable bank”
BoC plans $17.5bn bond issue
Bank of China, the nation’s third-largest by value, plans to sell as much as Rmb120bn ($17.5bn) of subordinated bonds by 2012, joining rivals in replenishing capital to fund loan growth, reports Bloomberg.
Beijing backs BoC for AIG unit
Bank of China has emerged as Beijing’s preferred choice as a potential bidder for the coveted Asian life assurance unit of AIG, which analysts estimate is worth about $20bn. The mainland lender is currently weighing up the merits of joining the auction for assets owned by the stricken US insurer.
Investors to cut stakes in China banks
Sales of Chinese bank shares by overseas investors are expected to accelerate this year as western financial institutions divest stakes to help bolster balance sheets. Over the past few weeks, UBS and RBS have sold their holdings in Bank of China,
RBS sells Bank of China stake for $2.4bn
Royal Bank of Scotland raised about $2.4bn by offloading its stake in Bank of China at around an 8 per cent discount to the lender’s closing price in Hong Kong on Tuesday, the FT reported, citing people familiar with the sale.
RBS eyes sale of Bank of China stake
Royal Bank of Scotland is considering selling its £2bn stake in Bank of China amid a scramble by foreign investors in mainland Chinese banks to cash in their lucrative holdings. Stephen Hester, recently appointed RBS chief executive after the bank was rescued by the UK government,
Bank of China may delay Rothschild deal
Bank of China may have to delay a planned $342m investment in La Compagnie Financiere Edmond De Rothschild as China’s banking regulator withholds approval, reports Bloomberg. With a Dec 31 deadline approaching,
Banks’ fund-raising: the coming wave in Asia
Banks are clearly thinking as much these days about selling off stakes in themselves or other capital raising plans as they are about banking – possibly more, if you’re a Barclays, Bank of America or an RBS.
Scottish bankers’ HBOS plan dismissed
Some of HBOS’s biggest investors have dismissed an attempt by two of Scotland’s most prominent bankers to preserve the independence of the UK’s biggest mortgage lender. Sir Peter Burt and Sir George Mathewson,
Bank of China buys into LCF Rothschild
Bank of China, the world’s fifth largest bank, is to take a 20% stake in La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild, the family-held asset management and private banking business, signalling continued Chinese appetite to invest in western banks.
Bank of China flees Fannie, Freddie
Bank of China has cut its portfolio of securities issued or guaranteed by troubled US mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by a quarter since the end of June. The sale by China’s fourth largest commercial bank,
China’s new Heritage
The Chinese sure know how to pick ‘em. After China Investment Corp’s outstanding investments in Blackstone (-52% since IPO last year) and Morgan Stanley (bonds originally set to convert at $48-$57 a share,
Chinese banks take great leap forward
China’s three largest banks reported huge jumps in Q1 profits in what may mark a peak in earnings this year, as government measures to curb loan growth and tackle inflation start to bite. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lifted Q1 net profit by 77% from a year earlier to Rmb33.1bn ($4.7bn) while Bank of China reported an 85% increase to Rmb21.7bn.
Subprime dampens China’s banks
Bank of China on Tuesday said its profits in 2007 were dragged down by a $1.3bn writedown in US subprime-related holdings, although overall profits still rose 31% to Rmb56.2bn ($8bn). However, BoC lagged Industrial and Commercial Bank of China,
HSBC, two others, on BII shortlist
HSBC, Bank of China and Malayan Bank (Maybank) have been short-listed to buy Temasek’s 42% stake in Bank Internasional Indonesia, valued at about $850m. It is unclear whether this is the final shortlist for BII,
A committee is formed to look at China’s subprime
Not before time: just a day after news that subprime-related losses at Bank of China, the country’s biggest bank, might be more than six times larger than initially estimated, the FT reports that China’s banking regulator has convened a task force to monitor US subprime exposure at Chinese banks as they prepare for larger-than-expected losses on those holdings.
Bank of China faces its monsters
It’s like a financial version of “The Blob” — every time you think the subprime monsters are receding, they come back stronger and bigger. So China is now finding out, with the latest rumours that Bank of China — the country’s largest bank — is preparing a write-down on its investments in US mortgage securities six times larger than initially provisioned for.