Briefs: Police chase bank name, Japanese bank challenger and four more

  • Police Credit Union in New South Wales aims to become the seventh mutual deposit taking entity to adopt the word bank in its name. If its members agree PCU NSW will be known as Police Bank. There is one other Police Credit Union in Victoria while Police Credit in South Australia trades without the word "union" in its name. There is also a Police & Nurses Credit Society in Western Australia. PCU NSW has $1.2 billion in assets and 75,000 members.
  • There is more speculation of a Japanese bank entering the retail banking market in Australia. The Financial Review reported that "a large Japanese bank" was working on plans to market home loans and retail deposits. A year ago media in Japan reported that Sony Bank was seeking a banking authority in Australia and hoped to be open for business by August 2012.
  • A former teller with National Australia Bank will serve at least 14 and a half years in jail for murdering an elderly customer and stealing her money. Kaycee Henzon pleaded guilty in March to murdering Nancy Brayshaw at the 72-year-old's Epping home in late 2009, ABC reported.
  • Commonwealth Bank hopes to be able to process payments made with cards issued by China Unionpay from later this year. The bank formally signed up with the dominant payments card issuer from China on Friday. National Australia Bank has acquired CUP transactions for many merchants since 2006. NAB also plans to issue CUP cards to Australian customers some time next, the Financial Review reported.
  • The Bank for International Settlements on Friday produced guidelines for bank regulators on the framework for the additional capital that "domestic, systematically important banks" need to hold by 2016. The BIS wants "high loss absorbency", meaning additional tier one capital for banks. In Australia this would include the four major banks.
  • ANZ will be allowed set up a subsidiary in Taiwan, the Financial Supervisory Commission said on Friday. The subsidiary will be responsible for the assets and liabilities of the bank's 18 branches.