Here is the latest collection of stories on regulatory actions, both in terms of granting of permissions and punishments.

Permissions:
United Overseas Bank has set its sights on developing business in Vietnam in the wake of last week’s receipt of in-principle licence to have a subsidiary bank in the Asian country. The licence was given by the State Bank of Vietnam, the central bank.

UOB said it is the first Singapore bank to receive the in-principle licence; such authorisation would allow it to widen its branch network beyond Ho Chi Minh City and offer its products and financial solutions to businesses and consumers located in other cities. 

The lender said it is also thinking of opening a branch in Hanoi, seen as Vietnam’s “gateway to fast-developing cities in the north such as Hai Phong, Quang Ninh and Hai Duong”.

Vietnam is an attractive investment destination for many businesses, the bank said, noting that foreign direct investment flows to Vietnam rose to a record $12.6 billion last years, up 6.8 per cent from the year before (source: World Investment Report 2017, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.).

The bank said it will work with Vietnamese companies through business advisory services and financial solutions such as trade finance, cash management and project financing.

Punishments:
Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan have agreed to pay a total of $148 million to draw a line under claims they plotted to fiddle the benchmark yen-Libor interbank rate and said they will work with investors suing other banks, Bloomberg reported.

This news service has contacted both banks for comment and may update in due course.

Investors including Sonterra Capital Master Fund, Hayman Capital Management and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System sued 21 banks and three brokerage firms in federal court in New York in July 2015, accusing them of manipulating the rate from 2006 to 2011.

Deutsche Bank will pay $77 million and JP Morgan $71 million under the settlements, which were outlined in court documents filed late last week, the news-wire reported; it went on to say that neither company admitted wrongdoing under the agreements, which must still be approved by a judge. It said Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

Over recent years a raft of banks have paid heavy sums, stretching to billions of dollars or the equivalent currency, to settle claims that the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, had been manipulated. One consequence has been a flurry of class-action lawsuits. The saga has seen senior-level changes at some banks and recruitment of new compliance personnel and calls for the whole interbank system to be changed. 

The world’s largest banks have paid billions of dollars in fines over the last five years to settle allegations of rigging the London interbank offered rate, a key financial benchmark used to set interest rates. Class-action lawsuits filed by investors and regulators are still making their way through the courts.

ASIC
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the country’s financial regulator, said it has permanently banned Ms Thuy Thi Vu, a former finance analyst in Darwin, NT from the credit and financial services industries. Vu, a former finance analyst in the Darwin branch of Alldrive Holdings Pty Ltd, trading as United Financial Services, was convicted on nine charges of submitting false or misleading information to Esanda in support of loan applications. 

ASIC's investigation found that Ms Vu changed loan applicants' postcodes from remote to suburban postcodes and submitted the applications. Generally, the loan applicants had been referred to United Financial Services WA (UFS) for finance by car yards in the Northern Territory as they were seeking finance.

The probe found that between June and August 2015, Vu submitted nine loan applications containing false information and documents relating to the borrower's residential address postcode. The loans were approved and disbursed, totalling A$238,069 ($189.223). The false information resulted in loans being approved that the lender would otherwise have rejected or referred for further assessment.

ASIC also permanently banned Gold Coast based financial advisor Satvir Singh Birk from providing financial services. Birk was an authorised representative of Professional Investment Services Pty Ltd and a director of Carter Group Pty Ltd (now in external administration) which was a corporate authorised representative of PIS. 

ASIC found that between September 2010 and October 2011, Birk was was dishonest in that he: caused cheques to be drawn on a client's superannuation account without authorisation; deceived some clients as to the use of funds withdrawn from their superannuation funds; deceived another client as to the price at which units in an unlisted registered managed investment scheme had been sold for and as to the use of the proceeds of the sale, and used a portion of the proceeds for the benefit of Birk's father; misled clients in relation to the value and other details of units they had purchased in an unlisted registered managed investment scheme.

On 4 July 2016, Mr Birk appeared in the Southport Magistrates Court charged with five counts of fraud involving approximately A$800,000. The matter has been adjourned until 7 August 2017.  Mr Birk was released on various bail conditions. This matter is being prosecuted by the CDPP.