Deutsche Bank exits Lodha Developers, gains $183 mn

MUMBAI: Germany's Deutsche Bank has gained 9 billion rupees ($183.09 million) after exiting from a four-year investment in Mumbai-based builders Lodha Developers, the Indian company said.

Deutsche Bank was paid 25.42 billion rupees, 55 percent more than its investment of 16.4 billion rupees in late 2007, it said on Thursday.

A spokesman for Deutsche Bank in Mumbai declined comment. Lodha funded 17.2 billion rupees of the repayment from cash generated through sales of residential units in its projects across Mumbai, including in its flagship 117-storey World One, which is expected to become the world's tallest residential tower.

The remainder was funded through issue of bonds. The company's debt has dropped by 10 billion rupees to 30 billion rupees after the repayment to Deutsche Bank, Managing Director Abhisheck Lodha said.

Source: EconomicTimes

RBI offers new branch licences to StanChart, Deutsche Bank

Foreign lenders may have to wait longer for wholly owned subsidiary model guidelines.

After more than a year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has started offering new branch licences to foreign banks that have a large network of branches. Industry players say this indicates further delay in framing guidelines for the wholly-owned subsidiary model for foreign lenders in India.

The top seven foreign lenders in the country, which account for over 70 per cent of foreign bank branches, have not added a single branch to their network this year, though they had applied to RBI for new branch licences.

According to bankers, in the last few weeks, RBI offered new licences to Standard Chartered Bank and Deutsche Bank. With 94 branches, Standard Chartered has the largest network among foreign banks in India. The bank received three new licences and plans to open the branches next year. Deutsche Bank, which has 15 branches, has secured licences to open branches in Ahmedabad and Surat.

“I think RBI held back on issuing new branch licences to large foreign banks primarily because of two reasons. First, there was some regulatory discomfort over governance and control in some of these banks. Second, RBI also wanted to link the new branch licensing process to the subsidiarisation model. It was probably waiting till the guidelines for this model were finalised,” said a senior official with a foreign bank, requesting anonymity. “Perhaps it has realised the progress on the subsidiarisation front is not happening at the pace anticipated earlier and so, decided to offer new licences.”

In January, RBI had released a discussion paper on the presence of foreign banks in India and had invited feedback from the public. Foreign banks had given their views to RBI in the first week of March.

“It is currently under the consideration of the ministry of finance and RBI. We have not received any communication on this since March,” said an official with another foreign bank.

Bankers said foreign lenders had asked RBI to sort issues related to capital gain tax, priority sector requirements and the branch licensing policy.

According to India’s commitment to the World Trade Organisation, RBI had agreed to offer at least 12 branch licences to foreign banks every year. In the past, the central bank had allowed the opening of 17-18 foreign bank branches in a year. However, in last one to one and a half years, RBI had given branch licences to foreign banks that were foraying into India or had a limited number of branches.

In June, Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Banking Group re-entered India after a gap of nearly a decade, and had opened its first branch in Mumbai. Earlier this year, Zurich-based Credit Suisse said it had secured RBI’s approval to open its first branch in India. In September, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world’s largest bank, opened its first branch in India.

Source: Business Standard

Standard Chartered hires HSBC's Katerji for senior MENA job:Sources

DUBAI: Standard Chartered Plc has hired senior HSBC banker Haithem Katerji to head up its Middle East and North Africa financial institutions group, two sources familiar with the matter said.

In his new role, Katerji will be reporting to the bank's global head of client coverage in Singapore, one of the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Katerji has been involved in several regional high-profile deals at HSBC.

A Standard Chartered spokesman in Dubai declined comment. London-headquartered Standard Chartered, which makes more than 80 percent of its earnings in Asia and other emerging markets, has a large presence in the Middle East and has been keen on boosting its investment banking operations in the region.

Last year, the bank hired Deutsche Bank's mergers and acquisitions head, Apoorva Shah, to its own M&A team.

International banks had flocked to the MENA region in recent years, lured by the oil-rich region's growth prospects and the lucrative fees available, from taking companies public to advising on sovereign fund deals.

But investment banking activity hit a rough patch in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The amount of fee income raised by investment banks from mergers and acquisitions was $165.1 million in the first three quarters of 2011, down nearly 41 percent from the same period last year, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Source: EconomicTimes

Under fire, Deutsche Bank CEO may step down early

Berlin, Nov 15:The Deutsche Bank CEO, Mr Josef Ackermann’s, surprise decision to scuttle plans for becoming the supervisory board chairman and the opening of a probe against him by the Munich prosecutor has fuelled speculation that he may make way for his designated successor Anshu Jain earlier than expected.

Mr Ackermann’s term expires next year, but it will be untenable for him to continue at the helm of Germany’s largest bank if charges that he made fraudulent statements before a court are substantiated, according to financial market analysts in Frankfurt.

His image as Germany’s top banker has already been tarnished by a police raid on his office last week as well as by the opening of a new investigation against him in connection with the ongoing court case about the compensation claims of the Munich-based Kirch Media company, which went bankrupt about 10 years ago, they said.

Deutsche Bank’s supervisory board had on July 26 named India-born Anshu Jain as co-CEO together with his management board colleague Mr Juergen Fitschen to succeed Mr Ackermann when he leaves office in May next year.

The bank’s leadership had also agreed that Mr Ackermann will replace present supervisory board chairman Mr Clemens Boersig, who will retire in May, one year ahead of his term expiring.

However, Deutsche Bank announced unexpectedly on Monday evening that he will not become a member of the supervisory board.

Mr Ackermann, 63, has informed the supervisory board that he will no longer be available as a candidate for the supervisory board when he leaves the management board, Deutsche Bank said in a press statement.

He told the supervisory board that the extremely challenging conditions in international financial markets and in the political-regulatory environment demanded his full attention as chairman of the management board.

This will not give him enough time for dialogue with individual shareholders, the statement said.

Subsequently, Mr Paul Achleitner, the management board member of Allianz, was nominated as chairman of the supervisory board to succeed Mr Boersig, the statement said.

It made no mention of the investigation against Mr Ackermann or the police raid on his office.

However, media reports said a team of investigators searched the offices of Mr Ackermann and other management board members and the bank’s legal department in Frankfurt between Tuesday and Friday.

They also raided the private residence of former Deutsche Bank CEO Rolf Breuer.

These investigations will be continued, the reports said.

Deutsche Bank to boost mortgage book

Deutsche Bank plans to nearly double its mortgage book in India to Rs 3,000 crore by the end of next year. The move is in line with the bank's strategy to maintain its focus on secured assets, following the sale of its credit cards business earlier this year.

The mortgage book, which is currently estimated at Rs 1,800 crore, comprises Rs 1,450 crore of home loans and Rs 350 crore of loans against property. Deutsche Bank currently lends Rs 80 crore of these loans every month. The average size of the loans is in the range of Rs 70-75 lakh.

“We have started setting up more distribution points and adding capacity in our sales force. We expect our mortgage book to nearly double by the end of the next year,” said Prashant Joshi, managing director and head (private and business clients), Deutsche Bank, India.

The foreign lender currently employs 18 sales managers and around 100 agents. Besides ramping up its sales force, the bank plans to offer value-added services like life insurance cover, along with housing loans, to draw customers. It also plans to reduce the processing time for sanctioning these loans to three days, from the current one-week period.

The expansion of the bank's mortgage book would also allow it to cross-sale its banking products to home loan customers.

Senior officials at Deutsche Bank said the lender was exploring options like securitising a part of its mortgage book and availing refinancing from the National Housing Bank to ensure there was no mismatch between its assets and liabilities. However, the bank has no plans to launch a dual-rate housing loan product, re-introduced by many of its domestic rivals last month.

“We don't have plans to launch a dual rate housing loan product as of now. I think there is a need for fixed-rate products, but people would prefer that only if the tenure is longer,” Joshi said.

Source: Business Standard

HDFC doubles issue size to Rs 10 bln

Mumbai: India's Housing Development Finance Corp has upsized its issue to 10 billion rupees, double its initial size, as it received strong investor demand, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

We are seeing very good demand from corporates, insurance companies and foreign institutional investors, two sources said.

The arrangers have already received commitments for 8.50 billion, the sources said.

The company has maintained the pricing at 9.65 per cent.

Deutsche Bank has joined as the arranger along with ICICI Bank to the deal, said sources.

Source: Financial Express

UBI picks 6 banks for offshore bond: sources

State-run Union Bank of India (UBI) has picked six banks for a possible offshore bond issue, several sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The company has chosen Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered and HSBC for the deal, the sources said.

The bank will meet investors but will hold off on issuing a bond until market conditions improve, several sources said.

"We are planning to meet investors in the first week of next month, tentatively," Chairman and Managing Director MV Nair told Reuters.

The company would not identify which banks it had picked.

Union Bank is looking to raise funds through a Reg S bond, which means the issue will be open to overseas investors outside the United States, the sources said.

In mid-July, Reuters reported the lender was looking to raise $300 million-$500 million from international bond markets.

UBI's last visit to the international bond markets was in January when it raised 160 million Swiss francs ($201 million) from a 4.5-year bond. That borrowing was the first in the currency from an Indian borrower in 24 years.

The last time Union Bank issued a Reg S bond was in August 2010, when it raised $400 million through a 5.5-year bond issue.

Several Indian borrowers have completed roadshows in recent months but have held back issuance amid market volatility.

Would-be issuers in wait-and-watch mode include Indian Railway Finance Corp (IRFC) and Rural Electrification Corp, top cellular carrier Bharti Airtel, and Essar Group software services firm Aegis, bankers have said.

Offshore bond issuance from India has slowed in the past few months amid volatile markets. Bankers have said they do not expect any new issues in the next couple of weeks with attention still focused on debt worries in the United States and Europe.

Source: Business Standard

Deutsche Bank staff indicted for stock scam

Seoul: A report says four employees of Deutsche Bank AG and its South Korean brokerage unit have been indicted on charges of manipulating stock prices and unfair trading.

Yonhap news agency reported Sunday that the alleged improper trading triggered a sudden plunge in Seoul's benchmark stock index last November and resulted in illegal profits of about $41 million.

Yonhap says prosecutors indicted three employees with the bank's Hong Kong office and a fourth with Deutsche Securities Korea.

Yonhap cited the German bank as saying its South Korean brokerage unit didn't authorize or condone any violation of market regulations.

Seoul prosecutors said they could not immediately confirm the report.

Source: Financial Express