Central bank allegedly flouts rules to allow Rupali to do this without profit

SHANGHAI: China designated a clearing bank in Seoul for yuan transactions in South Korea on Friday, coinciding with a visit by President Xi Jinping, as Beijing promotes greater use of its currency overseas.

China’s central bank has authorised the Bank of Communications, the country’s fifth largest lender, to undertake yuan clearing business in the South Korean capital, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) said in a statement.

The announcement came as Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up a state visit to South Korea on Friday. China is seeking to make the yuan—also known as the renminbi—used more internationally in keeping with the country’s status as the world’s second biggest economy behind the United States.

A joint communique endorsed Thursday by Xi and his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-Hye also pledged to strengthen efforts to launch direct trading between the yuan and the won.

The PBoC recently announced that it signed agreements for yuan clearing arrangements with France and Luxembourg, adding Chinese banks would be designated later as the clearing institutions.

WASHINGTON: The US Export-Import Bank is considering financing a massive coal-fired power plant in India despite the fact the Obama administration has called on domestic and global public lenders to stop funding coal-plants in his climate change strategy. The board of the Ex-Im Bank, the United States’ export credit agency, voted last December to stop funding coal plants overseas - except in certain circumstances - in response to President Barack Obama’s Climate Action Plan, which called on US and international lenders to do so.

“We are currently reviewing the application, which we received last month, to determine if it satisfies our criteria of ‘reasonable assurance of repayment’ and to ensure that it adheres to our environmental and other policies,” an Ex-Im official said.

The Ex-Im bank helps finance foreign purchases of US exports. Its future is currently in question as Congress debates whether or not to re-auhtorize the 80-year-old institution, whose funding expires September 30. House Republicans are divided on the question while Democrats largely support it. Democratic Senator Joe Manchin from coal state West Virginia plans to offer compromise legislation to renew the bank’s charter by five years on the condition that it permanently removes the restrictions on lending to coal projects.

The Ex-Im Bank in January temporarily suspended enforcement of a lending ban to high-carbon intensity projects until September due to a provision of a House appropriations bill that defied the president’s climate action plan.

This opened the window for the India project to apply for an Ex-Im loan guarantee. The coal project being reviewed by the bank is a 4,000 MW integrated power plant and coal mines located in Jharkand.

It had initially been proposed by India’s government as part of a strategy to add an additional 100,000 megawatts of generation capacity by 2017. Residents surrounding the coal mining and power project have protested against it. The supercritical plant, which uses more efficient boilers than traditional coal-fired power plants, is owned by Reliance Power, Tata Power and coal mining company NTPC. —Agencies 

Investment bankers are jostling to win plum roles from the founding Lee family of Samsung Group, South Korea's top fee-payer, as it prepares to hand the baton to the next generation in a restructuring that could land more than $100 million in advisory fees alone.
Foreign and Korean investment banks are bringing in their chief executives and top dealmakers to pitch for a glut of deals as the $407 billion Samsung Group untangles an empire that ranges from electronics to financial services.
Banks' top executives have long courted the Samsung Group as it's among Asia's top fee-payers. Citigroup's chief executive Mike Corbat flew to Korea last year to meet with Samsung management, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter, while last month Asia-Pacific head Stephen Bird travelled to Seoul.
Now, as the group's restructuring accelerates, Korean and foreign investment banks are assembling large teams, sending their CEOs to pay their dues at Samsung HQ and boosting research coverage of the group to try and win lucrative work from the conglomerate.
"There are potentially hundreds of transactions that can be done to simplify the Samsung group structure," said Shaun Cochran, head of Korea at CLSA, which published a 178-page report on the group on June 16.
As well as untangling the group's complex web of businesses, the restructuring could also ease a potential $6 billion tax bill faced by the Samsung heirs.
Unlike large Western companies that often retain a 'house' bank, bankers say Samsung keeps them on their toes by fostering competition for each and every deal as it believes it gets better service that way.
Since 2010 the group has paid an estimated $167 million in fees, the most among Korean corporates and the tenth-highest in Asia outside Japan, according to data from Freeman Consulting. So far this year, it has paid $21 million in fees, compared with $13 million for all of 2013.
Bankers estimate Samsung could pay more than $100 million in fees over the next two years.
With revenues from trading and dealmaking dwindling, global banks in Asia have culled staff and focused on cross-selling to the region's few serial fee payers.
That makes a group like Samsung, whose Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is the world's biggest smartphone maker, a top target for banks. In return, Samsung is a demanding client even by investment banking standards.
"For a one hour meeting with them, we'll do thirty man-hours of preparation so we don't waste their time," said a senior executive at a foreign investment bank in Seoul
The sprawling Samsung conglomerate, whose 2012 revenues accounted for more than a quarter of South Korea's nominal gross domestic product, appears to be accelerating a restructuring after patriarch Lee Kun-hee, 72, was hospitalized in May.
Last month, Samsung Everland Inc, a key holding company within the group, announced plans for an IPO, following a similar announcement in May by IT solutions unit Samsung SDS.
Other mandates include battery maker Samsung SDI Co's acquisition of electronics materials affiliate Cheil Industries Inc, and a potential renminbi-denominated bond for Samsung Electronics.