China's first bank seizure shows hidden loan risk

China's first government takeover of a bank in more than two decades jolted the country's financial sector on Monday, driving up funding costs and underscoring the potential for increased stress at regional lenders that piled into off- book financing in recent years.

Interbank rates jumped after regulators said late Friday that they would assume control of Baoshang Bank Co. for one year because of "serious" credit risks. While authorities said they would guarantee smaller deposits, they left markets guessing over which of the Inner Mongolia- based lender's other creditors might face losses.

Bank of Communications (BoCom), one of China's largest commercial banks, launched a branch here on Monday as it plans to step up its support to Chinese investment in Europe.

The Prague branch is BoCom's 23rd overseas banking institution and the first one in Central and Eastern Europe from BoCom Group. The services provided by the Prague Branch will include account services, corporate financing services, international settlement and trade financing services, and treasury services.

Ren Deqi, President of BoCom, said at the opening ceremony that in recent years, SinoCzech cooperation has achieved fruitful achievements in the areas such as trade, finance and tourism. The BoCom is willing to make active contribution to the further deepening of economic and trade development between the two countries.

Financial cooperation is an important part of bilateral cooperation, said Zhang Jianmin, the Chinese Ambassador to the Czech Republic at the opening ceremony, adding that the establishment of the BoCom in Prague is the latest achievement in the bilateral cooperation in the financial sector.

So far, three Chinese banks, including the Bank of China, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and the BoCom have successively established their branches in the Czech Republic.

Tomas Nidetzky, deputy governor of the Czech National Bank, welcomed the arrival of the BoCom Prague branch at the opening ceremony. NBC's Natalie Morales had an 'eye-opening' job at a bank before journalism. Long before she became a favorite member of the Today show family, NBC News' Natalie Morales worked in...

banking.

"Chemical Bank came to my college at Rutgers, recruited me because I speak Spanish, Portuguese, and was a journalism major and writer," she told Yahoo Finance's "My Three Cents with Jen Rogers."

"So I kind of went into the job thinking, 'If this gives me greater appreciation and understanding of finance, then I'm getting sort of a paid-for MBA out of this,' which is what it ended up being," she said.

Morales joined the management training program at the famed Chemical Bank not long before it merged with Chase Manhattan Bank, now JP Morgan Chase (JPM).

"It was a fantastic job," she recalls. "I got to spend two years learning all about the banking industry. It was an incredible eyeopening education in money."

Morales rotated through departments including securities lending and the 401k program. Like most recent college graduates, she knew little about the importance of saving for retirement or how 401k's work. But she was a quick study and soon was out teaching people - in Spanish and Portuguese - about Chemical Bank's 401k plan.

"At that point, I felt like I really understood why it was so important to know about money and

know about investing in the marketplace because I think that's truly the only way to see your money grow is to invest it," she said.

Today, in between raising her two sons and traveling the world covering stories for NBC News, Morales keeps a close eye on the market and invests when she sees a good opportunity, trusting her gut to make a good stock pick. And she is still dutifully contributing to her 401k.

In fact, when asked for her best advice for anyone landing their first jobs, she offers this: "Invest in your 401k right away and if you have school debt, pay back your school debt. And don't buy as many lattes."