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RZB reports Profit before tax rose 6.2 per cent

Balance sheet total increased 4.8 per cent to € 157.2 billion

Investment banks raise starting salaries to attract graduates put off by scandals

The rise is on top of a big jump in starting salaries at the banks last year as the “social stigma” of working for a bank rises again.

Credit Agricole sees Greek unit sale within weeks

Credit Agricole had said on August 9 it was assessing offers from Greek banks for Emporiki.

Valartis Group posts profit for the first-half of 2012

Net commission income was relatively stable with a decrease of 10 per cent due to a downturn in transaction-based revenues, while net interest income fell by 19 per cent year-on-year.

UK investment bankers prefer Singapore

Of the 462 investment bankers that were asked, 31 per cent said they would most like to work in Singapore. By comparison, only a fifth preferred New York and only 19 per cent opted in favour of London.

Last Man Standing Means Europe Investment Banks Resist Shrinking

The game plan won’t work again as rising capital requirements and declining business alter the investment-banking landscape, investors and analysts say.

Standard Bank Sees ’Challenging’ Six Months as Costs Rise

Loan impairments surged 35 percent to 3.9 billion rand.

European banks top list of world’s safest

That’s the same rung TD occupied in the magazine’s last update in the spring.

European Banks Tackle a Mountain of Bad Debt

Such figures sound large, but they are dwarfed by the scale of the deleveraging process going on in Europe.

Bad bank debts hit €100bn and rising in Italy

The survey of senior managers found 70 per cent expect the volume of non-performing loans to rise this year, and 75 per cent expect to sell bad assets next year.

Kazkommertsbank closes London office

The representative office of the bank in London was opened in 1997 to maintain business relationships with commercial banks, international financial institutions and government authorities.

Santander readies to list part of Mexico unit

Santander is hoping to raise as much as $4 billion in the offering, according to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday.

Britain's Lib Dems want to reopen bank reform debate - FT

Senior members of the left-leaning Lib Dems want to re-examine whether banks' retail operations should be allowed to market complex derivative products, in light of the recent Libor rate-rigging scandal.

Libor’s Risks Emerged From Clubby London Banking Culture

In recent months it has become clear that many bankers misreported rates, either to benefit trading positions or provide a false picture of stability to regulators, undercutting the market function Libor was meant to perform.

The case for a British investment bank

No wonder small businesses can't get credit when the UK is the only G8 member not to have a body dealing with such finance

Standard Chartered Gets Antitrust Nod to Buy Agricole Unit

Standard Chartered was allowed to buy the whole of Credit Agricole Yatirim Bankasi Turk AS from its Montrouge, France- based parent, the Ankara-based regulator said on its website today.

Barclays Chairman May Shrink Investment Bank

Perry Jones, a London-based spokesman for Barclays, declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg News today.

Whale's Tail Hits Bank on Buyback

The developments came as the New York company tried to unwind a series of problematic positions taken by a trader in the bank's Chief Investment Office nicknamed the "London Whale" for his outsize market bets.

ING sees quick sales in Asian insurance break-up

ING is also preparing to list its European and U.S. insurance units on stock markets as part of the restructuring that will break apart its once fashionable bancassurer business model.

Italian bank loans to business fall again

Meanwhile, Italian banks' holdings have risen more than 100 billion euros since before the first ECB tender.

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