Singapore’s Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) said yesterday it was in talks with Dutch lender ING for a possible acquisition.
OCBC gave no details, but Dow Jones Newswires quoted unnamed sources as saying ING hoped to raise US$1.5 billion by selling its Asian private banking assets and that a deal should be finalized in the next few weeks.
“The bank wishes to inform shareholders that it is in discussions with ING in relation to a possible acquisition,” OCBC said in a statement filed with the local stock exchange. “The discussions are consistent with the bank’s strategy of looking for growth opportunities in the region.”
But OCBC also cautioned investors there was no guarantee that a deal would be reached.
“Shareholders are advised that there is no certainty that any transaction or agreement will result from the discussions,” the bank said.
ING had announced in April plans to sell up to 8 billion euros (US$11.83 billion) in assets to reduce its risk exposure and focus on core business.
It said the sales would affect 10 to 15 business areas in the course of the next few years, leaving the company focused on Europe, life insurance and pensions savings.
ING received a government capital injection of 10 billion euros to help it through the global financial crisis.
Separately, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) said a third of its employees working in the Singapore office of its private bank, Coutts, have resigned.
The departures include 20 managers and 50 administration workers, an RBS spokesman in London said by telephone yesterday.
The Financial Times, which reported the story earlier yesterday, said the resignations might be related to bonus prospects.
London-based RBS has overhauled its boardroom after it reported the biggest loss in UK corporate history last year.
The bank plans to sell or restructure units in about two-thirds of the countries in which it operates.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique