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ANZ Investment Bank has made three appointments in its FX and commodities business in Asia, reflecting its growth strategy in the Asian FX business. Johnny Ho is appointed senior dealer of FX trading and will be based in Singapore. He has 12 years' experience in trading and distribution in the FX market. Prior to this appointment, Ho worked in Ericsson's treasury division in Singapore and previously for Sumitomo, DBS and JPMorgan. He reports to Mohammed Yousoof, head of risk, FX and commodities, Singapore.

It has been several years since cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan traded his playboy image for a dusty office and an ambitious agenda. Keri Geiger finds him committed to the cause.

Real-time settlement becomes a reality in India this year. Pauline Loong, Ritesh Gupta and Roy Chew look at the implications for banks and corporates.

John Stewart has been appointed managing director and chief executive officer of National Australia Bank following the resignation of Frank Cicutto. Stewart will relocate from London – where he is a director on the principal board and executive director of National's business in the UK – to the company's headquarters in Melbourne to take up his appointment. He first joined National as managing director and chief executive officer of National Australia Group Europe in August last year. Prior to that, he was deputy chief executive of Barclays Bank where he headed the group's personal financial services operations and Barclay's private clients. He was chief executive of Woolwich before it became part of the Barclays Group in 2000.

Banks are keen to merge but there are many hurdles – especially in the run-up to the election, writes Dominic Jones.

Fubon Financial Holding has announced a firm bid offer to acquire a controlling interest in Hong Kong-based International Bank of Asia (IBA). The offer, which would see the Taiwan firm purchasing Arab Banking Corp's 55% stake in the Hong Kong lender, is valued at HK$4.3 billion (approximately US$553 million) and would also involve a special dividend of HK$0.26 per share. Some reports indicate Fubon is bidding for IBA in order to take advantage of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) recently signed between Hong Kong and China. “The CEPA relaxes requirements for Hong Kong banks aiming to open branch offices on the mainland and could provide a back door for Taiwanese banks who are currently barred from having full banking operations [there],” says Franklin Yao at Primasia Securities.

Shareholders of US-based ChipPAC Inc could very well have shed tears of joy when it was announced that Singapore’s ST Assembly Test Services Ltd (STATS) will pay around US$1.6 billion to acquire it in an all-stock deal. Based on their agreement, ChipPAC shareholders will receive 0.87 of each of STATS’s American depositary receipts (ADRs) for each share of their common stock. STAT’s ADR closing price of US$13.34 on February 9 translates to an offered value of around US$11.60 per ChipPAC share – a whopping 47% premium over ChipPAC’s last traded price of US$7.90.

Indonesia has acted decisively to clean up its banks since the Asian financial crisis. Maggie Ford examines the progress.

Koram Bank take over * India lifts foreign cap * Xinao Gas replacement

Much ado about nothing * Fig business is big business * Cash in the family * The Class of '76 * The silver lining in minerals * Oil abroad for India * Heads roll towards Asia * The banker's banker

Banks are striving to adapt their offerings to keep pace with the fast-changing marketplace for custodial services, write Pauline Loong and Andrew Peck.