- Indonesia's central bank is proposing to put a cap of 40 per cent on bank ownership, down from a cap of 99 per cent at present. Existing shareholder arrangements would be allowed to continue, Reuters reports. This is a more lenient plan than was speculated about previously in local media. Individuals or families may own no more than 30 per cent of a bank. Financial institutions will be able to own up to 40 per cent. The final policy decision, which will be released next month, may be relevant should the Gunawan family sell its 46 per cent stake in Bank Pan Indonesia. ANZ owns a 38 per cent stake in Panin bank.
- Two funds managed by Blackstone and Morgan Stanley have agreed to pay A$640 million to buy a A$1.9 billion portfolio of around 100 distressed property loans in Australia from Lloyds Banking Group. Reuters reported the agreement on Friday, which was consistent with a speculative report in the Australian Financial Review on Thursday. Nearly all the loans are in default, Reuters reports.
- Banks will be encouraged to voluntarily block payments from customers in Australia to unlicensed online gambling service providers (or their agents) if the Government adopts recommendations from a study by the Department of Communications. The report, released last week, recommends banks block such payments as long as those providers are on a blacklist maintained by media regulators in Australia.
