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HONG KONG (XFN-ASIA) - CASH Financial Services Group Ltd and unit Celestial Asia Securities Holdings Ltd said they have advanced about 586.9 mln hkd in loan to an invididual client, Al-Rashid Saad Abdulrahman, who is an associate of a substantial shareholder of both companies, to help him buy securities from an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong.

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - Carlyle Group's bid to buy a 7.99 pct stake in Chongqing Commercial Bank has been rejected by the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), the official Caijing Magazine reported, citing a local CBRC official.

FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - German securities watchdog BaFin is examining whether some of WestLB AG's trading partners may have been involved in suspected manipulation of share prices, Handelsblatt reported, citing a spokeswoman for BaFin.

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Beazley Group PLC, the Lloyd's insurer and reinsurer, said that it has increased the capital of its US insurance business, Beazley Insurance Company, by 45 mln usd to 105 mln usd.

NEW YORK (AP) - The last few weeks are a good example of why it's often better to ride the stock market roller coaster than to jump on and off it.

HONG KONG (XFN-ASIA) - China Construction Bank (CCB) reported a net profit of 46.32 bln yuan for 2006, down slightly from 47.09 bln a year earlier as the earnings were affected by the absence of tax relief that had boosted the 2005 figure.

HONG KONG (XFN-ASIA) - China Construction Bank (CCB) said it will form a credit card joint venture with Bank of America Corp (BoA), to be owned 63 pct by the CCB group and 37 pct by BoA.

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - China CITIC Bank Corp Ltd said it has set the price range for the Shanghai portion of its dual listing at 5.0-5.8 yuan per A-share, adding that it will begun the institutional portion of its A-share initial public offering (IPO) today.

TOKYO (XFN-ASIA) - The government has decided to facilitate the creation of an all-in-one exchange that handles the trading of stocks, financial futures as well as industrial and agricultural commodities, with an eye toward turning the Tokyo Stock Exchange into such a venue by the end of March 2009, the Nikkei financial daily reported, without citing sources.

WASHINGTON (Thomson Financial) - G7 deputy finance ministers had meetings with hedge fund managers and other related parties in the aftermath of Friday's meeting of finance ministers and central bankers.

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