Swallowing up five smaller rivals. Will the new mega bank be able to compete globally . And it is the final countdown, singapore turns of its two G Wireless Network this weekend, rendering old phones useless. 2g. Its a friday, everyone, good morning, asia, hello, world, thanks for watching the Asia Business report, im rico hizon. Does bigger mean better when it comes to Financial Institutions . This weekend five indian banks will begin the process of merging with the state bank of india. Its already the countrys largest bank but after the merger it will be one of the largest in the world. The government hopes the move will clean up the system and get banks performing again. We ta ke and get banks performing again. We take a look. Hsbc, bank of china, bnp paribas, Jp Morgan Chase they are some of the largest banks in the world and now an indian bank will bejoining their ranks. The state bank of india, indias largest Public Sector bank, is merging with five subsidiaries. It will create a mammoth bank with 24,000 it will create a mammoth bank with 2a,000 branches and 500 million customers. Now, banks are often measured by the value of their assets. This merged bank will have assets worth 550 billion. To put that into perspective, the new merger will be five times bigger than indias next largest bank, and the problem in india is theres lots of small banks. Far too small to break even let alone become profitable. And for too long many have been weighed down by non performing assets and bad loa ns, by non performing assets and bad loans, and this has hampered the banks ability to loan to businesses, impacting the economy. By businesses, impacting the economy. By coming together these five Smaller Banks will be able to serve customers of a growing economy better, giving credit more easily while cutting costs and losses. Consolidation looks like a good option to clean up indias banking system. Samira hashmi on the merger in indias banking industry. Australias Competition Regulator will stop a group of the countrys largest banks or bargaining for access to apples contactless payment function. It stops them introducing their own services, which could be used instead of the apple wallet. That would have enabled banks to circumvent Transaction Fees and get customers to engage more frequently with their own applications. Its a move that could potentially set a global president. Us President Donald Trump has given an indication of the tone he will take during his meeting with the chinese President Xi Jingping next week. Ina next week. In a tweet he said the meeting would bea in a tweet he said the meeting would be a very difficult one because the us can no longer have massive Trade Deficits and job losses. He said American Companies need to be prepared to look elsewhere. From defence aerospace, transportation to security, french multinational thales designs and builds electroconvulsive systems. The company has six 4000 use and operates in 64 countries 64,000. It isa operates in 64 countries 64,000. It is a huge Defence Contractor and asia is a Growing Market for it. We look at the company with thaless chief executive. This part of the world is very dynamic. It is trend is around 5 , depending on the country, but broadly for the region. 596 in country, but broadly for the region. 5 in terms of growth is important in our business. You said Defence Spending in asia has always been growing but do you think recent territorial disputes, like in the south china sea, and threats from north korea, is that helping boost Defence Spending even further . Generally i dont comment on political aspects, i just look at the defence element of our customers, but the geopolitical environment is not crucial to our decisions. In your ning is you are also seeing recovery in europe as well in your numbers. Also seeing recovery in europe as well in your numbers. That is new. As you said, europe didnt consider in the past, in the recent past, that defence of security was a priority so many of the European Countries decided to have a kind of flat or even decreasing defence budget. Things have changed since 2015, two years ago, robert lee because of the geopolitical environment, crimea, ukraine, but also what happened in europe with the Terrorist Attacks probably. Overall if you take the 28 eu state members, 19 out of these 28 have decided to increase their defence budget. It is kind of a long term trend in europe. You said growth in asia was about 5 , what are we talking about in europe . Probably between 2 3 , thats our best guess, a bit little bit less than asia but its already much better than in the past. Thats two minutes with the thales chief executive. In other business news, toshiba has informed the Japanese Defence ministry it will keep Semiconductor Operations ifttt and after it sells off its memory chip business. Shareholders agreed to sell off the flash memory unit to cover losses from westinghouse, which filed for bankruptcy protection on wednesday. The Company Behind the biggest blunder in oscar history, pwc, will be the Accountancy Service for the awards again next year. A backstage envelope mixup led to the wrong best picture winner being announced. Starting 2018, pwc will replace the counted in the control room to stop mistakes. Our counters will have to hand over their phones before going backstage. Rememberwhen hand over their phones before going backstage. Remember when phones were just bricks and they were only used for making calls and sending texts . In singapore those phones are about to be rendered useless. Singapore will switch off its 2g signal on the first of april and Service Providers say the move will be Better Services for people with newer phones, but they admit a few people may be caught out. Timothy mcdonald has more. These chunky old devices are 2g phones, and they are a far cry from todays smart phones, they are really just made todays smart phones, they are reallyjust made to perhaps send a text or make a voice call. Here in singapore they are about to switch off the macro 16 will. For more we are speaking to patrick from m1. Why are speaking to patrick from m1. Why are singapores telcos switching off the 26 are singapores telcos switching off the 2g signal . Off the 2g signal. Todays customers are all internet savvy and they utilise data, 4g is specifically designed for the efficient carriage of data and hence the time has come for us to retire the time has come for us to retire the 26 the time has come for us to retire the 2g network gracefully and reuse the 2g network gracefully and reuse the bandwidth and spectrum for 2g for 4g. If you are a 4g Customer Sitting in a house, maybe on facebook or playing a game, are you likely to see an improvement in service . Because it is a low band frequency, the penetration indoors is better. So, yes, some of the customers, especially if youre deep inside a building, you will have a better customer experience. What kind of preparation have you made to switch over people such as perhaps Migrant Workers or older people on zg Migrant Workers or older people on 2g prepaid plans or corporate customers who have Legacy Devices like 2g Credit Card Machines . We started the Outreach Programme intensively to an ahok years ago specifically reaching out to corporate customers that have Legacy Devices two and a half years ago. We looked at Migrant Workers, every weekend we had roadshows in their language in their dormitories to educate them, advise them on what was coming up and get them to convert. All three telcos have a number of low cost close to zero smart phones available, so when they convert them, or go across to 3g or 4g, cost wise it is the same plan, same cost, so it is as easy as possible to do it. Thats part of the outreach across the board we have done for the last two and a half years. When you hit the switch finally, any stragglers . Yes, there will be stragglers, customer service, sales and marketing, corporate sales, everyone will be geared up as we approach the first of april. Thanks, patrick. In a few days if you have an old macro fine like this one then it might not be very good for anything but plain snake vas an old 2g phone. I have an old 2g phone but im sure ican i have an old 2g phone but im sure i can use it in other countries but playing snake an old 2g phone. The all ordinaries is down by a 10th of a percent. Tokyo stocks opening higher as exporters and banks rise on a weaker yen and those solid Economic Growth numbers from the us. As for us equities, they rallied on the Growth Upgrade and Oil Prices Rising above 50 per barrel. Bank is much for investing your time with us. Im hizon. Sport todayis your time with us. Im hizon. Sport today is up next to thank you so much for in testing your time with us. Youre watching bbc news of news. The top stories this hour the former president of south korea Park Guen Hye has been arrested over a Corruption Scandal that led to her impeachment. Russia tried to hijack the us election through Propaganda On Steroids says a democratic senator investigating alleged kremlin political meddling. Five members of the same family have died in a Helicopter Crash near trawsfynydd in north wales. The privately owned aircraft went missing yesterday as it was flying from luton to dublin. Search teams found the wreckage this morning. Our correspondent danny savage sent this report. It was in this remote mountainous area of snowdonia where rescue teams found the wreckage of the helicopter and five bodies. Volunteers had combed the peaks and valleys in appalling weather conditions, looking for the aircraft. Police blocked off the few narrow lanes that lead up into the rhinog mountains north of dolgellau and to the east of the seaside town of harlech. There is very difficult and Hazardous Terrain involved and its in the area of south snowdonia. A crash that has been located, along with five people, all of whom are deceased. We are now preserving the scene for a joint investigation with the air investigation branch. The bbc understands those on board were husband and wife ruth and kevin burke, and three other members of their wider family. The couple lived in the village of hulcote near milton keynes. A Family Spokesman has revealed that six children lost their parents in the crash. This is the type of helicopter involved, a twin engined squirrel. It took off from near luton yesterday lunchtime but failed to arrive at its destination in ireland. It was initially thought it had crashed into the sea, but it was then established it had disappeared from radar in north wales. Police described Search Conditions as atrocious, with visibility down to less than ten metres in places. The aircraft was eventually found by a Volunteer Mountain rescue team in a remote spot some miles from here. Tonight, police have said they may have to suspend their operation to recover the victims because of the difficult terrain they are having to work in and a forecast of more bad weather. Danny savage, bbc news, near dolgellau. We have much more as always on our website. If you want to get in touch with us here at bbc world news, you can do so on social media. Im bbckasiamadera on twitter. Led to the sector will be here later. Lebo diseko. Time now for all the sports news in sport today. Hello, this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. Coming up on this programme fifa reveal their Expansion Programme for a 48 Team World Cup in 2026. And Roger Federer beats tomas berdych, to seal his place in the Miami Masters semi finals. Gale force winds cause the first round of the Ana Inspiration Golf to be suspended for the day. Hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the footballing news that fifa has announced how the expanded 48 Team World Cup will be divided up in 2026. All Football Regions will see their slots increased, with africa the biggest winner. The plan to expand the competition beyond its current 32 team format is subject to approval in may. Each confederation is guaranteed increased places, with oceania granted an automatic place for the first time. Fifa are also proposing a six nation play off tournament to decide the last two slots at the 48 Team World Cup in 2026, as our sports news correspondent Richard Conway reports. Europe Richard Conway reports. Get 60 places, that is the price europe get 60 places, that is the price that they put on their support for this tournament being taken