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The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) is to become the first state bank to securitise its bad loans, reported the Financial Times. It will issue domestic bonds backed by Yn3bn of non-performing loans (NPLs). The ICBC plan, which has yet to be approved by regulators, involves a tranche of NPLs from its Ningbo […]

Bank of China (BOC) is to sell off US$2bn in non-performing loans in a continuing effort to clean up its balance sheet, reported the Financial Times. UBS was appointed to auction the loans, believed to have been transferred from BOC's Hong Kong arm prior to the subsidiary's listing last year. Private equity investors and investment […]

The highly profitable credit card market could be opened up to foreign banks under proposals being considered by the banking regulator, said South China Morning Post. The China Banking Regulatory Commission was said to be looking to draw up new rules that would allow foreign entry into the credit and debit card markets in the […]

Kookmin Bank, South Korea's largest lender, is considering basing 1,000 call centre jobs in China, a move that would realise an annual cost saving of US$10m. The Financial Times reported that the bank was interested in setting up in the Shenyang area, where refugees from North Korea have swollen the number of Korean speakers in […]

International credit rating agency Moody's raised China's rating from A3 to A2 ahead of the country's first international bond issue in two years. Hong Kong's rating rose from A3 to A1, making this the first time that the agency had rated the territory's credit higher than the mainland. The move came days after rival ratings […]