China

Only two Chinese banks, Bank of China and China Construction Bank, were upgraded by Standard&Poor's, reports Xinhua News.

Bank of China recorded a profit after tax of RMB101.28 billion in the first three quarters, an increase of 22.09% compared with the same period of 2010.

ABC realized a credit card income of RMB6.55 billion in the first three quarters this year.

The volume of international trade finance transactions conducted by ABC amounted to USD72.4 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 94%. Its balance of trade finance transactions in domestic and foreign currencies was USD19.85 billion, up 51.7% over the beginning of the year.

BoC and SMBC will cooperate on yuan-related business to accomodate increasing trade between China and Japan.

China issued 2.81 billion bank cards as of the end of the third quarter, up 4.9 percent from the end of June.

China’s central bank said the requirement for reserve ratio of 16.5 percent for more than 20 rural cooperative banks will expire this month, and it will revert back to 16 percent.

The People's Bank of China and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority have signed a renewed currency swap agreement for a term of another three years.

China’s sovereign fund now has 60.46% stake in the lender, up from 59.31%.

The move to take advantage of China overtaking of the US to become Brazil’s largest trading partner.

And the remaining stocks from BofA were bought by Chinese investors.

And worse, loans to property developers are doomed to sour as sales slow.

Local banks have been advised to stop selling short-term investment products by the China Banking Regulatory Commission.

A China Construction Bank spokesman said that Bank of America's decision to sell most of its CCB shares will not affect CCB's development.

BofA will sell its remaining 10.4 billion CCB shares to private investors this month.

The last ATM in the country was launched by Co-operative Bank back in 2003.