Asia-Pacific markets fall on bank concerns, and Credit Suisse announces “decisive action” to borrow

South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Japan has agreed to lift export restrictions on three semiconductor materials to Seoul. statement.

The ministry said Seoul also said it would drop its dispute with Tokyo with the World Trade Organization once it was lifted.

Japan in 2019 removed South Korea from its “white list” of preferred trading partners, after a South Korean court ordered Japanese companies to compensate wartime forced laborers.

– Jihe Lee

Ping An Insurance reported a full-year net profit of 83.77 billion yuan (12.14 billion U.S. dollars) for 2022, down 17% from the same period a year earlier.

in releasing its resultsRevenue also fell to 1.22 trillion yuan, down from 1.29 trillion yuan in 2021.

Despite the lower numbers, the company raised its dividend. Full-year profit grew 1.7% year-on-year to CNY 2.42.

Hong Kong-based Ping An shares were last trading down 3.25%, after paring some losses earlier in the day.

The chairman of Credit Suisse’s largest shareholder, National Bank of Saudi Arabia, told CNBC’s Laughley Gamble that the recent market turmoil in the banking sector is “isolated” and stems from “a little bit of panic.”

“If you look at how the entire banking sector has fallen, unfortunately, a lot of people were just looking for excuses… It’s panic, a little bit of panic,” Ammar Al-Khudairi said on CNBC’s “Capital Connection.”

He added that Credit Suisse did not ask the National Bank of Saudi Arabia for financial assistance.

“There have been no discussions with Credit Suisse about providing assistance,” he said. “I don’t know where the word ‘help’ came from, and there haven’t been any discussions at all since October,” he said.

His comments come after Credit Suisse announced it would borrow up to 50 billion Swiss francs ($53.68 billion) from the Swiss National Bank to boost liquidity and investor confidence after its share plunged on Wednesday.

– Jihe Lee

A TikTok spokesperson told NBC News that forcing ByteDance to sell its stakes in TikTok would not alleviate security concerns.

Comments were made in response to a Wall Street Journal report saying the US government is threatening ByteDance to divest its stakes in TikTok or face a possible ban on the app.

“If protecting national security is the goal, divestment does not solve the problem: A change in ownership will not impose any new restrictions on data flow or access,” the spokesperson said, according to NBC.

“The best way to address national security concerns is transparent, US-based protection of US user data and systems, with the robust third-party monitoring, auditing, and verification that we already implement,” the spokesperson said.

– Valeria Antonchuk, Jihye Lee

The China Securities Regulatory Commission has temporarily halted approvals for sales of new global depository receipts, Bloomberg says mentionedciting familiar people.

The report added that the regulator’s halt comes from concerns that GDR sales could put pressure on mainland-listed stocks – citing Chinese investors who later hedged in stocks in China to take advantage of price gaps.

Bloomberg reports that Chinese regulators are considering new rules for bids.

– Jihe Lee

Regulators at the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation asked banks interested in acquiring closed banks, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, to submit offers by March 17, Reuters reported.

The FDIC aims to sell both SVB and Signature entirely, while bids for parts of the banks could be considered if sales of the entire company don’t happen, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

This will be the FDIC’s second attempt to sell SVB after a failed attempt on Sunday.

The two sources cited by Reuters added that any purchaser of the signature must agree to give up all cryptocurrency work at the bank.

– Lim Hwi Ji

New Zealand’s GDP fell 0.6% in the quarter ending December 2022, a reversal from a 1.7% rise in the previous quarter.

For the full year of 2022, gross domestic product expanded by 2.2%, down from the 6% rate recorded for the whole of 2021.

Out of 16 industries, only five reported an increase in activity compared to the previous quarter.

Manufacturing was the biggest driver of decline, down 1.9%.

– Lim Hwi Ji

The Swiss Franc has been volatile following developments around Credit Suisse – it last strengthened 0.17% against the US dollar to pare earlier weakness after the lender announced it had borrowed nearly $54 billion from the Swiss National Bank.

The Japanese Yen also strengthened to trade at 132.86 against the Dollar. The Korean won rose 0.13% to 1311.24 against the US dollar.

– Jihe Lee

Credit Suisse announced that it will borrow up to 50 billion Swiss francs ($53.69 billion) from the Swiss National Bank under a covered loan facility and a short-term liquidity facility.

The company said in a statement that the steps will support the core business of Credit Suisse customers as Credit Suisse takes the necessary steps to create a simpler and more focused bank built on customer needs. advertisement.

In addition, the bank is offering a cash tender offer in respect of 10 large US dollar-denominated debt notes for a total of up to $2.5 billion — as well as a separate offer for four large euro-denominated debt notes for a total of up to 500 million euros, the company said.

Read more here.

– Jihe Lee

Banks in South Korea and Australia reversed earlier losses after Swiss lender Credit Suisse announced liquidity measures to allay investor fears.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia trimmed most of its losses in choppy trading – it was down 0.15% after falling as much as 1.97% earlier. Westpac Banking and National Australia Bank both fell as much as 2.35% and 1.81% respectively before erasing some of their declines and have recently fallen by 1.34% and 0.58%.

Some South Korean banks fell as much as 2% earlier – Woori Financial Group stock was last down 1.62%, Shinhan Finance was down 1.69% and KB Kookmin Bank was down 1.12%.

– Lim Hwi Ji

Japanese banks trimmed some losses slightly Thursday morning after Credit Suisse announced it would proactively boost its liquidity position by borrowing 50 billion Swiss francs ($54 billion) from the Swiss National Bank, as well as issuing a public tender for 3 billion Swiss francs of bonds. .

Prior to the announcement, MUFG shares fell more than 5% and were the biggest loser in Topix, but it shrank to just 3.35%, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group fell 5% and has since fallen to 3.59%.

Topix as a whole fell over 2% prior to the announcement, but is now down slightly at 1.4%.

Australia’s unemployment rate fell slightly from 3.7% in January to 3.5% in February, seasonally adjusted Government data show up.

This was lower than expectations for an unemployment rate of 3.6%, according to a Reuters poll.

The job participation rate in the economy came in in line with expectations at 66.6%, up from 66.5% in the previous month.

The Australian dollar rose slightly by 0.23% to 0.6630 against the US dollar.

Japan’s trade deficit widened to 897.7 billion yen ($6.76 million) in February, up 26.2% from the same period last year.

According to government data, in February exports rose by 6.5%, while imports grew by 8.3%. These were lower than the forecasts made by economists, who expected exports and imports to grow by 7.1% and 12.2%, respectively.

Notably, Japan’s exports to Europe and the United States grew by 18.6% and 14.9%, respectively, year on year, while exports to China fell by 10.9%.

– Lim Hwi Ji

The Japanese shunt wage negotiations concluded on Wednesday, Reuters reported Recording the largest increase in wages not seen in decades, with high levels of inflation.

Analysts polled by Reuters expected to see a nearly 3% increase in total wages for the economy, the largest increase since 1997.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has called for better wages for workers in Japan, citing a weaker currency and higher commodity price levels which are driving up import costs in an overall high inflation environment, the report said.

– Jihe Lee

First Republic Bank is considering options to support liquidity including selling the lender, Bloomberg mentionedciting people with knowledge of the subject.

The report said the bank is expected to attract interest from its competitors and has not taken any decision.

Shares of the bank were up 3.92% in after-hour trading in the US on Wednesday night – after seeing a rally of more than 20% earlier in the week along with regional banks.

Goldman Sachs on Wednesday cut its 2023 economic growth forecast by 0.3 percentage point, to 1.2%, citing waning lending from small and medium-sized banks amid turmoil in the broader financial system.

Analysts expect that smaller banks will try to conserve liquidity in case they need to meet depositor withdrawals, leading to a significant tightening of bank lending standards that could affect aggregate demand. “Small and medium-sized banks play an important role in the American economy,” they wrote.

The company noted that banks with assets of less than $250 billion make up about 50% of commercial and industrial lending in the United States. Click here to read more.

– Piya Singh

The Swiss National Bank said on Wednesday that it will provide liquidity to banking giant Credit Suisse if needed.

In a joint statement, the SNB and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority said: “FINMA confirms that Credit Suisse meets the higher capital and liquidity requirements applicable to systemically important banks. In addition, the SNB will provide liquidity to the globally active bank if required. “

Credit Suisse shares came under pressure on Wednesday after the bank’s largest investor said it would offer no more financial assistance. US-listed Credit Suisse shares fell more than 18%.

– Fred Imbert