Malaysia

RHB Capital has put on hold its application to acquire Indonesia's PT Bank Mestika Dharma amid Bank Indonesia's plans to limit single-party ownership in commercial banks to not more than 50%.

Malaysia is giving out financial services licenses to foreign companies to boost banking industry competition.

The lender’s strong deposit franchise seen as an advantage if funding remained tight.

Hong Leong Bank will see its net interest margin trend up in financial year 2012 with the full consolidation of EON Bank's higher yielding loans, says HwangDBS Vickers Research.

CIMB Islamic Bankexpects a moderate total loan growth of between 15 per cent and 19 per cent for financial year 2011.

Maybank is benefiting from a re-focus to domestic growth for both corporate and consumer amid a volatile global market, Citi Investment Research said.

Banking analysts are expecting a slower second half for Malysian banks based on the souring global economic outlook and the banking data released in July.

Analysts are upbeat that the new merged entity between Hong Leong Bank and EON Bank will benefit in the long run.

Higher profit was attributed to higher net interest income, other operating income, income from Islamic banking business and impairment writeback on other assets.

Hong Leong Bank Bhd overcame a slashed fourth quarter profit to end the financial year with an increased net profit.

The fund will have a Shariah- compliant equity exposure of up to 98% of the fund's next asset value.

The app is available in Apple iPhone's iOS, Google's Android OS and the RIM BlackBerry OS platforms.

And according to Reuters, it’s now looking to buy a retail bank in Thailand.

Hong Leong Investment Bank cut its forecasts for CIMB Group's financial years 2011-2013 by 5.2-5.6 per cent due to lower-than-expected loan growth, non-interest income and net interest margin.

The bank partnered with Kony to create the banking app for three smartphones, namely Apple iPhone's iOS, Google's Android OS and the RIM BlackBerry OS.

For 2Q11, the Group’s net profit of RM970m was 5.8% higher than 1Q11.