Asia Pacific

Korea Exchange (KRX) is looking to introduce a market maker system to boost trading in stocks with low liquidity, while also bringing in measures to prevent large losses caused by erroneous trades.

Touch-based technology provider General Interface Solutions, an affiliate of Foxconn Technology Group, has signed its latest loan at an increased size of $300m after general syndication saw 15 banks pile in.

Star Petroleum Refining has started building books for its Bt15.6bn ($440m) IPO, as the leads hope to reel in investors to a rare benchmark-sized deal from Thailand that is offering an attractive dividend yield and discount to peers.

In this round-up, Moscow Exchange sees fall in both spot and swap trading, South Korea deposits drop for sixth consecutive month, and the Swiss franc is now directly convertible with the onshore RMB. Plus, a recap of GlobalRMB’s top stories this week.

MSCI has said it will include a total of 14 overseas-listed Chinese companies, including Alibaba Group and Baidu.com, to its Emerging Market and China indices. The breakthrough is expected to boost trading in China’s internet giants as well as aid the future inclusion of A-shares.

Philippine property developer DM Wenceslao and Associates started gauging investor appetite for its $150m-$200m IPO on Friday as it gears up to become the biggest listing in the country this year.

Carsten Stoehr, who's been with Standard Chartered since April 2012 in various senior positions, has left the bank.

Deutsche Bank has promoted James McMurdo as its head of corporate and investment banking for Asia Pacific, as part of a wider reorganisation of the firm’s global business.

Deutsche Bank on Thursday priced its latest Samurai deal well wide of its last effort as investors continued to digest its restructuring, while wild swings in the basis swap between yen and dollars buffet other potential issuers in the format.

National Australia Bank printed a €750m seven year covered bond on Monday. But the deal didn’t fly off the shelf, even though it offered a substantial premium to other Australian covered bonds. The lack of European Central Bank repo eligibility and slackening demand in the seven year area was blamed.

Goldman Sachs this week announced the closure of its dedicated BRIC (Brazil, Russia, China and India) fund after nearly 10 years. The move signalled the end of the BRIC era, as this year saw recessions plague Russia and Brazil while growth in China stalled.

India issues RFP for Concor sale — Bank of Jinzhou readies IPO — China Energy and UNV to pre-market