Bloomberg Bank of America Corp. (BofA) has hired investment banker Samardh Kumar from Citigroup Inc. to co-head a recently formed group focused on emerging private companies. Kumar, a managing director, will lead the emerging growth and regional coverage group alongside New York-based banker Brendan Hanley, who was appointed to the role in July, according to an internal company memo. Kumar …

Bloomberg Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. (OCBC) is in talks with companies including Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. about seeking one of the city-state’s planned virtual bank licenses, according to people familiar with the matter. Singapore’s second-largest bank would take a minority stake in any virtual-banking joint venture and sees it as a way to tap new customers and markets. For example, Singtel might …

Bloomberg The global hunt for yield is a boon for Chinese banks raising capital via perpetual bonds. Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. sold 85 billion yuan ($12 billion) of perpetual bonds last week at a coupon of 4.39%, the lowest level since lenders first started selling the debt instruments in January. Total sales of the bonds, which lack a maturity …