OECD says IPO underwriting fees ‘akin to tacit collusion’

It quoted data showing the median underwriting fee for IPOs in the United States is 7 percent of total proceeds from the IPO and has risen to 8 percent in Japan and China, doubling in the case of China within a couple of years. At the same time ... ( read original story ...)

DBS, Nishi-Nippon City Bank collaborate to support Japanese SMEs

They will offer discounting of exports bills. Japanese bank Nishi-Nippon City Bank (NCB) recently signed a memorandum of understanding with DBS, Southeast Asia’s largest bank. This memorandum fosters the greater collaboration and support for Japanese ... ( read original story ...)

Japan’s April Jobless Rate at 2.8 Percent

May.29 -- Japan's jobless rate remained at the lowest in more than two decades last month, but household spending remained mired in a long slump. Bloomberg's Rosalind Chin reports on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia." ( read original story ...)

HRnetGroup readies for $175m IPO

It now operates in 10 Asian cities: Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Taipei, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul ... group has turned a profit every year except in 1998. IPO proceeds will be used for business expansion and potential ... ( read original story ...)

Japan puts free early education, drug reform on wish list

TOKYO -- Free nursery school and kindergarten for families nationwide as well as tighter control of ballooning medical costs highlight Japan's newest strategies to achieve growth, The Nikkei learned Monday. The government's policy and reform draft ... ( read original story ...)

Japan’s Banks Could Benefit From Riskier Lending

That would help Japan’s banks unleash trapped regulatory capital, improving their Tier 1 capital ratios by an estimated net 0.8 percentage point. Previous bank strategies like ramping up overseas lending and buying assets with dollar deposits to fund ... ( read original story ...)

BOJ’s interest earnings fall for first time in 5 years

TOKYO The Bank of Japan saw interest payments on its huge government bond holdings decline for the first time in five years in the fiscal year that ended in March, a sign that its ultra-loose monetary policy was taking a toll on its financial health. ( read original story ...)

Italian bank worries leak into second week

European share prices were a touch lower [.EU], led by a half-percent fall in banking shares as worries over recapitalizations ... the broad MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS dipping 0.2 percent. Japan's Nikkei .N225 edged ... ( read original story ...)

Can central bank stem NPA rot?

Ergo, CBs often get involved. The Bank of Japan (BoJ) recapitaliSing Japanese banks in the late 1990’s, US Fed acting as a lead arranger of rescue finance for LTCM in 1998 and the US Fed (2008) buyback of $1.5 trillion of distressed mortgage securities ... ( read original story ...)

Recruitment firm HRnetGroup going for $175m IPO on SGX

It now operates in 10 Asian cities, namely, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Taipei, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul. In Singapore, the group has a market share of 20.5 per cent, according to Frost & Sullivan. ( read original story ...)

Duterte to cancel Japan visit

The president was scheduled to speak at the 23rd International Conference on the Future of Asia to be hosted by Nikkei Inc. in Tokyo on June 5 and 6. Negotiations had been underway to arrange a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the ... ( read original story ...)

Japanese public backs writing defense forces into constitution

TOKYO -- A thin majority of the Japanese electorate favors resolving the constitutionality issue surrounding the Self-Defense Forces by adding language recognizing them to the war-renouncing charter, a recent survey shows. The Nikkei Inc./TV Tokyo ... ( read original story ...)