Asia Pacific

The Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China has mandated 12 banks to work on its planned $3bn return to the bond market, which could come next week.

Hong Kong-based Alex Yuen has resigned from JP Morgan’s equity capital markets team, GlobalCapital Asia understands.

Work to clarify thinking about impact in investment – meaning its effects on society or the environment – is going on apace. The International Finance Corp will launch next week at the World Bank/IMF annual meetings in Bali a set of Operating Principles for Impact Management, which are designed to complement the framework for analysing impact produced by the Impact Management Project.

Beset by low interest margins and a falling population, Japanese banks have looked abroad for juicier returns and have matched this with overseas funding. As Jasper Cox reports, it is a strategy that has made them vulnerable on either side of the balance sheet.

It has been a momentous year in the yen market. Having long been seen as a very traditional and conservative part of the financial world, Japan has been embracing change.

Société Générale became the first foreign bank to sell a Taiwanese dollar-denominated green bond on Tuesday, giving a fillip to the island state’s nascent green market.

A number of Chinese issuers have revealed their offshore bond plans just ahead of a week-long holiday in the Mainland, as the sovereign too plots its return.

Yancoal Australia has passed a listing hearing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and is preparing for the launch of its IPO this month.

State Street Associates has hired Qi Wang as head of research for Asia Pacific, effective immediately.

Malaysia’s Maybank has appointed Ami Moris as chief executive officer of Maybank Kim Eng, its regional investment banking arm.

Minsheng Financial Leasing has boosted its three year borrowing to $510m after attracting 12 participants during syndication.

Origin Markets, a primary capital markets fintech start-up, is pushing into the Asia Pacific market and has poached a fellow fintech’s head of sales & strategic partnerships in Hong Kong to expand its footprint.