China Deters Foreigners From Selling Bank Stakes

Bloomberg is reporting that Bank of America’s plan to sell $2.8 billion of shares in China Construction Bank that was pulled at the last minute on Dec. 15 was done so because of a securities law provision that would have required it to forfeit the profits on the sale.
China’s securities law bans investors holding more [...]

Bank Of America Raises Stake In China Construction Bank

Bank of America is to raise its stake in China Construction Bank to 19.1% from the 10.75% it now owns by exercising an option to buy the shares from Central Huijin, a state investment agency. China Construction is China’s third largest bank, and a likely beneficiary of Beijing’s proposed 4 trillion yuan stimulus package. BofA’s [...]

Faced With Losses, Beijing Stops Banks Buying Abroad

The FT’s Jamil Anderlini and Sundeep Tucker look at the reasons that China Development Bank didn’t get permission to bid $10 billion for Dresdner Bank, the German bank insurance giant Alliance has just sold to Commerzbank, and sees a trend.
“…after a string of high-profile overseas acquisitions last year that seemed to herald the arrival of [...]

Bank Profits Trimmed By Subprime Losses

China’s banks are taking their lumps from losses on trading mortgage-related securities, even while the strong domestic economy is boosting profits.
Bank of China reports a larger than expected $1.3 billion of subprime writedowns while Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, the world’s largest bank by market capitalization, reported $400 million-worth. Bank of China says it [...]

Financial Expansion

The steady movement overseas of Chinese financial institutions continues with Ping An Insurance taking a 4.2% stake in Fortis, the Belgo-Dutch group, for $2.7 billion. China Life, Ping An’s larger rival, said earlier this week it planned to buy a stake in a big European or North American insurance company.
In part this is reflection of [...]

Clamping Down On The Banks

Intriguing story in the Economic Observer, as reported by the AP, that China National Petroleum Corp and Sinopec are under investigation for being clients through subsidiaries of an illegal bank in Shenzhen.
Both companies have refused to comment on the reports, beyond acknowledging that the investigation is underway. The bank has been under investigation since last [...]

Banking On South Africa

They used to say of the British empire that trade follows the flag — and that the bankers were never far behind both. So, too, it seems with China.
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is to take a 20% stake in South Africa’s Standard Bank, Africa’s largest, according to various reports. It is paying $5.5 [...]