Regional Developments

Money world

JAPANESE INTEREST RATES UNCHANGED

TOKYO: The Bank of Japan (BOJ) kept interest rates unchanged yesterday because it needs more time to gauge the effect of the United States sub-prime mortgage crisis on the global economy, governor Toshihiko Fukui said.

'The biggest uncertainty right now is how much US housing prices will fall,' he said at a press conference yesterday. The BOJ board members voted 8:1 to leave the key overnight lending rate at 0.5 per cent, the lowest in the industrialised world.
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HSBC AWAITS RULING ON KOREA BANK BUY

SEOUL: HSBC Holdings' takeover of Korea Exchange Bank will remain on hold until a ruling is made on the legality of an earlier sale of the lender, South Korea's financial regulator said.
The Financial Supervisory Commission will not approve the sale by Lone Star Funds to Europe's biggest bank until the legal challenge is concluded, chairman Kim Yong Duk said on Wednesday in an interview.
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NEW CHAIRMAN FOR ABN AMRO
LONDON: Royal Bank of Scotland Group's Mr Mark Fisher will replace Mr Rijkman Groenink as chairman of ABN Amro, after the Scottish lender and its partners won shareholder backing to take over the biggest Dutch bank.

Mr Fisher is chief executive officer of the manufacturing division and a member of Royal Bank's board. The other existing members of ABN Amro's management board will retain their positions with revised responsibilities. The executives will be joined by representatives from Royal Bank and its partners, Fortis and Banco Santander.

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