The Weekly News Update is a weekly roundup of business news from around the Asia-Pacific region, covering Fusion Consulting's core industry practices: chemicals, consumer & retail, financial services, industrial & logistics, information & communication technology, life science and media & leisure. If you have colleagues or friends who may be interested in subscribing, please forward this email to them and copy knowledge@fusionc.com.       Merging with the Mainland: China's M&A opportunities   M&A activity in China continues to surge, thanks to strong economic growth and  private equity activity. With regulatory changes in 2006, several sectors should see  further M&A action in 2007 and beyond. Find out where the opportunities lie.

Financial services

India - Bankers bullish on India growth story Source: Financial Express, 18 April 2008 The country's leading bankers are optimistic that India's growth story would remain high despite tight monetary policies by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to curb inflation. "We have not witnessed a substantial industrial or an investment slow-down in the country as-on-date. I foresee India to grow at 8% at the moment and before 2012, the country would bounce back to 10% economic growth," said KV Kamath, managing director and CEO, ICICI Bank. Even though there being a slowdown on credit growth in the banking sector for the year gone by as a whole, the public sector banks like Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Indian Bank also claim to have registered a good growth on these counts. While the PNB expects a credit growth for the year 2007-08 to be at 23-24%, Indian Bank is likely to be clock 20% growth on same front. On the deposit growth, both the banks are likely to witness the mark ranging between 17-18% for the last fiscal. Korea - KTF, Shinhan to launch mobile credit payment service Source: Korea Herald, 22 April 2008 KTF and Shinhan Card have agreed to set up a joint venture to promote a mobile phone-based credit card payment service and other wireless financial services. The two companies will equally invest W1 billion in the company, tentatively named "Mobile Credit," which will be established in May and begin services in August. They expect the new service to attract some 3 million to 5 million subscribers within the next five years. This is the first time a joint company has been formed between a telecom company and a financial firm for credit services. The pair will tap into the growing mobile convergence market to generate new revenue sources. Taiwan - UBS Adds Two Wealth Management Centers In Taiwan Source: Dow Jones International News, 14 April 2008 UBS AG (UBS) opened two additional wealth management centers in Taiwan, and will consider expanding branches on the island to better serve its wealthy clients. Taiwan's high net worth individuals account for about 7% of the region's (total) wealth pool, and this continues to grow at a rate of about 5% per year. The country also ranks as Asia's third-largest wealth-management market for banks behind Japan and China. UBS estimates that the amount of investable liquid assets of affluent households in Asia will grow by about 9.7% in the next few years, faster than the global rate of about 6%. Separately, DBS said around 90% of the high net worth individuals in Taiwan are entrepreneurs - higher than the Asia Pacific average of about 70%. View an example of our experience in this industry. Back to list of articles.  Visit our website to sign up for free intelligence on Asian markets.

This Weekly News Update is a free newsletter, providing a round-up of the week's Asia-Pacific news from our core industry practices. If you have colleagues or friends who may be interested in subscribing, please forward this email to them and copy knowledge@fusionc.com.

Fusion Consulting is a business intelligence consultancy providing clear strategic advice on Asia-Pacific markets. With offices in Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong and 400 industry consultants in 16 countries, we conduct custom research and consulting to help companies understand their markets, compete more effectively and grow into new areas of opportunity. Email more@fusionc.com or visit www.fusionc.com for more information.