NEWS November 1 – Global Banking Crisis Deepens

The global banking industry was sent further into crisis after fears that Citigroup, the world's largest bank, may have to either cut its dividend or sell assets to deal with a shortfall in capital. It is believed that Citigroup will have to raise $30bn due to its capital base shrinking in the midst of the latest worldwide credit crunch. Following a CIBC report on the above Citigroup’s shares fell by 6.9% having a knock on effect on many other Wall Street Banks.

NEWS August 6 – Asia-Pacific Banking Mergers Double in Value

A report from “The Asian Banker” in Singapore on Saturday said that the value of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Asia's banking industry nearly doubled last year, with Indian and Chinese banks making the largest number of deals. Excluding Japan, total banking M&A volume rose 96.1 percent to $30 billion in 2006 from $15.3 billion in 2005. Cross-border deals within the Asia-Pacific region more than quadrupled to $4.2 billion from $0.9 billion the previous year. India with 29 deals and China with 24 saw the greatest number of these M&As

NEWS July 25 – Foreign Capital Increasing in Russian Banking Sector

Russia’s finance minister reckoned that foreign capital investment in the Russian banking sector would approach $70billion this year compared to $42billion in 2006. Auctions for the insolvent oil company Yukos’ asset, initial public offerings by the state run retail saving-bank Sberbank, and government controlled foreign trade-bank VTB remained the key contributors to the sharp spike in capital inflow in Russia. Foreign capital is making great inroads into the Russian economy in general, and in the banking industry in particular. In 2005, there were around51 credit institutions in the banking sector that were controlled by foreign capital, whereas the number was 42 in 2003.

NEWS July 13 – Same Day Transfer Deadline Put on Hold

The banking industry body, APACS has announced a further delay to the introduction of same-day electronic payments. The current system whereby it can take up to three days for money transferred by phone or internet to reach the designated account was to have been superseded by the end of this year but this will not be the case. The system that was being worked on would probably have had to be replaced again within 5 years, so the industry decided to start from scratch and create a brand new, faster, system which will hopefully go live in 2008. APACS’ chief executive said : "Clearly, it is more important to make sure it is done with our total confidence than rushed to meet a self-imposed delivery date." There is good news on cheque clearing times which will be streamlined from November of this year.