The Global Banker — Banking Industry News & Intelligence
Banking News
Moody's cuts Nordea's senior unsecured debt rating to Aa3 from Aa2
Banking News
Citigroup beats third-quarter profit estimates on investment banking strength
Latest News
Swiss Senate committee backs bank liquidity law, limits upfront fee to UBS
FINMA finds PostFinance emergency plan falls short while ZKB and Raiffeisen comply
Moody's cuts Nordea's senior unsecured debt rating to Aa3 from Aa2
Citigroup beats third-quarter profit estimates on investment banking strength
PBOC approves Visa unit's bid to prepare a bank card clearing institution in China
CPMI and IOSCO issued final business-risk guidance for global market infrastructures
Central Bank of Kenya holds benchmark rate at 8.75% for fourth time
PRA removes firm-specific 15% cap on high loan-to-income mortgage lending
First Abu Dhabi Bank Issued AED1 Billion Digital Green Bond
India’s Supreme Court Invalidated ₹84.15 Billion Yes Bank AT1 Write-Off
New Zealand Bank Stress Test Cut Aggregate CET1 Ratio to 8.5%
RBI Currency Curbs Pushed India’s One-Year Hedging Cost to 4.6%
IMF Found Zombie Firms Held 21.4% of Asia’s Corporate Debt
BBVA and Santander Completed €150 Million Blockchain Loan for Iberdrola
Bessent Urged World Bank to End Upstream Oil Financing Ban
FSB Finalised Twelve AI Governance Practices for Global Financial Institutions
Africa Finance Corporation Appointed Nigeria’s Cardoso as New Board Chair
Qatar Islamic Bank’s Nine-Month Profit Rose 2% as Financing Expanded
IMF Raised Asia’s 2026 Growth Forecast but Warned of Mounting Risks
EU Banking Authority Classified USDC as First Significant E-Money Token
Banking News
View All →Moody's cuts Nordea's senior unsecured debt rating to Aa3 from Aa2
Moody's lowers Nordea's senior unsecured debt rating to Aa3 from Aa2, citing an expected weaker level of bondholder protection in a banking crisis, while it affirms the Aa1 deposit rating.
Citigroup beats third-quarter profit estimates on investment banking strength
Citigroup's third-quarter earnings per share topped analyst forecasts, helped by investment banking, wealth management and multinational client business, though shares fell after the results.
IMF Found Zombie Firms Held 21.4% of Asia’s Corporate Debt
The IMF found that zombie firms accounted for 21.4% of corporate debt across ten Asian economies, more than double the share recorded before the global financial crisis.
Bessent Urged World Bank to End Upstream Oil Financing Ban
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged the World Bank to end its prohibition on upstream oil and gas financing while demanding procurement reform and sharper IMF scrutiny of global imbalances.
Executive Moves
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Africa Finance Corporation Appointed Nigeria’s Cardoso as New Board Chair
Africa Finance Corporation appointed Central Bank of Nigeria governor Olayemi Cardoso as board chair, succeeding Ireti Samuel-Ogbu as the institution expands infrastructure investment across the continent.
BNP Paribas hired two managing directors for UK advisory expansion
BNP Paribas hired Govind Shanbogue from Santander and Sandip Dhillon from UBS as managing directors, expanding its senior UK advisory team to six amid rebounding deal activity.
Absa appointed Eric Muriuki to lead pan-African digital growth ventures
Absa appointed former NCBA executive Eric Muriuki to a newly created pan-African growth and ventures role, with a spokesman confirming his mandate on 14 October.
Goldman Sachs' Solomon said no active succession timetable was underway
Goldman Sachs chief David Solomon said no succession transition or timetable was under way, clarifying speculation about president John Waldron while leaving routine board planning unaddressed.
TGB Magazine
Latest issueIssue 08
Q4 2026: Record profits, on a tightrope
The first half paid banks well for volatility, wealth and lending. The rate cycle has now turned, and the second half will test which of those engines keeps running.
In this issue
M&A
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Piper Sandler and Perella Weinberg Abandoned Proposed All-Stock Merger Talks
Piper Sandler and Perella Weinberg ended negotiations over an all-stock combination after failing to agree financial and personnel terms, leaving a potential consolidation of two US advisory firms unrealised.
India Approved Fairfax’s ₹528.78 Billion Purchase of Majority IDBI Bank Stake
India approved Fairfax Financial’s ₹528.78 billion purchase of a 60.72% stake in IDBI Bank, advancing a four-year privatisation process subject to regulatory approvals and completion conditions.
Kraken parent Payward agreed to acquire Lithuania’s Saldo Bank in Europe
Kraken parent Payward agreed to buy Saldo Bank’s Finnish holding company for an undisclosed sum, with regulatory approval required and completion expected during 2027 in Europe.
ISS urged Monte dei Paschi investors to reject twin bids
Proxy adviser ISS recommended that Monte dei Paschi shareholders reject proposed bids for Banco BPM and Banca Generali, alongside a related €4 billion special dividend.
Fintech
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BBVA and Santander Completed €150 Million Blockchain Loan for Iberdrola
BBVA and Santander completed a €150 million syndicated loan for Iberdrola using a blockchain platform that records and manages the transaction’s full contractual lifecycle digitally.
IMF and World Bank launched global blueprint against cyber-enabled financial fraud
The IMF, World Bank and Bank of Thailand launched a fraud-resilience framework for financial services as officials estimated digital scams cost the global economy about $1 trillion annually.
Airtel Money completed London admission as all 2.7 billion shares began trading
Airtel Money’s full share capital entered unconditional London trading on 14 October, completing admission of 2.7 billion shares after conditional dealings began five days earlier.
Commonwealth Bank rolled out AI assistant and urged Australian safeguards
Commonwealth Bank began rolling out an AI assistant inside its banking app while CEO Matt Comyn said Australia needed safeguards to retain more of the technology’s domestic economic value.
Regulations
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Swiss Senate committee backs bank liquidity law, limits upfront fee to UBS
A Council of States committee supports enshrining the public liquidity backstop in law but wants the upfront fee confined to banks with substantial foreign business, which today means only UBS.
FINMA finds PostFinance emergency plan falls short while ZKB and Raiffeisen comply
Switzerland's regulator says PostFinance's emergency plan does not yet meet all regulatory requirements, while those of ZKB and Raiffeisen do, and it expects the identified gaps to be closed promptly.
PBOC approves Visa unit's bid to prepare a bank card clearing institution in China
China's central bank has approved Visa's application to set up a bank card clearing institution, a step that would let the card network clear and issue renminbi cards once it is cleared to operate.
CPMI and IOSCO issued final business-risk guidance for global market infrastructures
CPMI and IOSCO finalised guidance for financial market infrastructures to reassess liquid net assets funded by equity, recovery plans, governance and disclosures under existing global principles for critical services.