Singapore’s Corporate News

▪ Ant, Grab's venture and Sea to usher in Singapore digital banking

Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm Grab's venture with Singtel and internet platform company Sea Ltd have each won licences to run Singapore's first digital banks, in the city-state's biggest banking shakeup in two decades. Singapore's move to herald newer players including Alibaba Group affiliate Ant Group and a consortium comprising China's Greenland Financial Holding Group comes as Asian regulators tap tech firms to shake up their often staid markets. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) expects the digital banks to start operating from early 2022, after meeting the necessary pre-conditions of Singapore, one of the world's top financial centres, and Southeast's main hub. (Source: The Edge)

▪ Singapore banks grapple with digitization as disrupters beckon

The trio of banks that dominate Singapore's financial sector are preparing their defenses against an influx of digital lenders, as the city-state puts itself at the forefront of the fintech revolution in Southeast Asia. DBS Group Holdings, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. and United Overseas Bank are intimately connected to Singapore's stellar growth following its independence in 1965 and their acronyms are familiar to generations of customers. But the cozy relationship between the banks and their clients is about to change. By year's end, the Monetary Authority of Singapore is expected to award licenses to new digital lenders who will challenge the status quo. The winners could even be announced next week, when Singapore holds its annual fintech festival. (Source: Nikkei Asia)

Indonesia’s Corporate News

▪ Indonesia central bank to extend monetary stimulus to 2021

Indonesia’s central bank will continue to use all its instruments to support economic growth in 2021, Governor said on Thursday, while urging commercial banks to lower their credit rates and expand lending. “Bank Indonesia (BI) will continue to direct all policy instruments to support national economic recovery,” He said at an annual meeting with senior government officials and top bankers. “Monetary stimulus will continue in 2021.” This year, BI has cut interest rates five times by a cumulative 125 basis points, bought billions of dollars of government bonds and relaxed lending rules in response to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. (Source: Reuters)

▪ SOEs Ministry prepares corporate action plans for SOEs, subsidiaries next year

The State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Ministry is preparing major corporate action plans for several state-owned companies and their subsidiaries for 2021, according to Deputy Minister. He said that the corporate actions included integrating state-owned micro financing firm PT Permodalan Nasional Madani (PNM) and state-owned pawnshop PT Pegadaian with state-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI). The ministry also plans to continue pushing the merger of three sharia subsidiaries of state-owned banks, as well as to take state-owned telecommunication giant PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia’s (Telkom) telecommunication tower subsidiary PT Dayamitra Telekomunikasi (Mitratel) public next year. (Source: The Jakarta Post)

Thailand’s Corporate News

▪ Bank of Thailand to unveil measures to contain baht

The Bank of Thailand (BoT) will hold a briefing on Dec 9 to unveil additional measures to contain the baht, an official said on Monday, blaming both short- and long-term factors for the currency's strength. The measures to be implemented in the first quarter of next year will be aimed at adjusting the baht and the financial market environment, said a senior director at the BoT. The baht had been "quite volatile" after factors such as progress developing a Covid-19 vaccine attracted fund inflows, she said, adding the central bank was "monitoring it 24 hours" a day. (Source: Bangkok Post)

▪ BoT allows easier capital regulations

The Bank of Thailand has amended regulations on the eligibility criteria for regulatory capital to be in line with international standards. Assistant governor of the financial institutions policy group, said the criteria for financial instruments qualifying as banking capital has changed. Although the capital level of the Thai banking system remains high, with the BIS (Bank for International Settlements) ratio standing at 19.4% in September, commercial banks should build up their capital buffer to withstand unanticipated events in the future. (Source: Bangkok Post)

Source: Kenanga Research - 7 Dec 2020