The Global Banker — Banking Industry News &amp; Intelligence

Shiga Bank and Senshu Ikeda enter final merger talks to create top Kansai regional lender

National Bank of Kazakhstan cuts base rate to 15.75% from 16.25% as inflation slows to 9.3%

Citi wins CSRC approval for wholly owned Shanghai securities firm with 1.2 billion yuan capital

Bank of Russia holds key rate at 14% and lifts 2026 inflation forecast to 7.1–7.6%

India plans stake sales in four state-run banks to 75% and a fresh consolidation round

Australia proposes raising bank cover pool limit to 12% from 8% and doubling estate withdrawals

Bank Negara Malaysia and Bank of Thailand join MAS's BLOOM digital money initiative

FirstRand Bank redeems R2 500 000 000 of FRB31 Tier 2 notes early

HKMA designates twelve banks as RMB liquidity providers and lifts repo facility to RMB22 billion

Eurozone ministers set 28 October deadline for Schnabel successor as Lagarde's future stays open

RBNZ signals December OCR hike, but banks and markets price a 25bp rise to 3% on 28 October

Wells Fargo names Kleber Santos sole head of consumer arm, Van Beurden to lead AI

Swedbank reports third-quarter net profit down 3% at 8.25 billion Swedish crowns

EBRD and IFC each agree to take up to 15.74% of Banque du Caire private placement

ADCB reports record third-quarter pre-tax profit of AED 4.063 billion, up 28%

Eastern Libya parliament accepts central bank governor Issa's resignation in principle

Türkiye's central bank cuts policy rate by 100 basis points to 36% after five holds

AIIB lends USD80 million in first nonsovereign green loan to Khan Bank

The five-year senior unsecured loan is AIIB's first investment in a Mongolian financial institution, with Korea Development Bank and Asian B-loan participants adding a further USD50 million.

India plans stake sales in four state-run banks to 75% and a fresh consolidation round

The government is considering cutting its holdings in four public sector banks to 75% through an offer for sale, with the first phase of the exercise expected to be completed within a year.

FirstRand Bank redeems R2 500 000 000 of FRB31 Tier 2 notes early

FirstRand Bank Limited will reduce the nominal amount of its FRB31 Tier 2 notes from R2 500 000 000.00 to R0.00, with payment and early redemption on 24 November 2026.

Swedbank reports third-quarter net profit down 3% at 8.25 billion Swedish crowns

Net profit fell from 8.51 billion crowns a year earlier, in line with analyst forecasts, while net interest income rose 7% to 11.57 billion crowns but missed estimates.

Wells Fargo names Kleber Santos sole head of consumer arm, Van Beurden to lead AI

Kleber Santos becomes sole CEO of Consumer Banking and Lending as Saul Van Beurden, his co-CEO since the unit's formation in 2025, turns exclusively to leading AI across Wells Fargo.

BPI names Maria Cristina “Ginbee” Go chief executive from 26 April 2027

Maria Cristina “Ginbee” Go will become the first female president and CEO of the Philippines' oldest bank on 26 April 2027, succeeding Jose Teodoro “TG” Limcaoco, who stays on the board.

BMO appointed Tim Cox to lead United States banking operations

BMO appointed Tim Cox as United States country head and chief executive of its US subsidiaries from 1 November, while Darrel Hackett moves to an advisory role.

Bank of America appointed two former chief executives to board

Bank of America appointed former Dow chief Jim Fitterling and former KPMG chair Bill Thomas as directors, adding industrial and financial reporting expertise to its board.

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Shiga Bank and Senshu Ikeda enter final merger talks to create top Kansai regional lender

The two banks are in the final stages of talks on a tie-up that would overtake Kyoto Financial Group by assets, though both say nothing concrete has been decided.

24 October 2026

RHB Bank wins extension to February 2027 for Tokio Marine insurance deal talks

RHB Bank now has until 11 February 2027 to negotiate with Tokio Marine Asia over the proposed disposal of up to 100% of RHB Insurance, after Bank Negara Malaysia approved an extension.

LSEG agreed $3.535 billion Octus acquisition to expand global credit data

LSEG agreed to buy New York-based Octus for $3.535 billion in cash, adding private-credit intelligence, data and workflows to its global platform, subject to regulatory approval.

Standard Chartered signs agreements to buy Zodia Custody and separate its software arm

Standard Chartered has signed definitive agreements to buy 100% of Zodia Custody Limited, with the custody business to join its Securities Services unit and no client disruption expected.

SoFi launches SOFIE deposit token paying 4.40% APY to consumers

SoFi Technologies launches SoFi Earn (SOFIE), a tokenized deposit paying 4.40% APY with each token representing $1 held at SoFi Bank, rolling out to SoFi Crypto members through November.

Danske Bank lets business customers connect AI agents to its Premium APIs

Danske Bank is linking customers' AI assistants directly to its Premium APIs through a Model Context Protocol server, so they can check balances and build cash-flow forecasts with simple prompts.

Google Cloud ended London incident after power event disrupted UK banks

Google ended the London cloud incident after a power event disrupted applications at Revolut, Lloyds, Halifax and HSBC, although its status page said a very small number of customers remained affected.

20 October 2026

Google Cloud outage disrupts Revolut payments and app access across Europe

Revolut reported partial outages across card payments, cash withdrawals, transfers and account access as a Google Cloud disruption affected its London region and other European services.

20 October 2026

Citi wins CSRC approval for wholly owned Shanghai securities firm with 1.2 billion yuan capital

Citi's Shanghai-based unit will have registered capital of 1.2 billion yuan ($180 million), and the approval ends a nearly five-year journey marked by regulatory friction in Washington and Beijing.

24 October 2026

RBI issues final leverage ratio rules with 3.5% to 4% minimums from April 2027

The Reserve Bank of India set minimum leverage ratios of 3.5% to 4% for commercial banks from 1 April 2027, rejecting calls to ease the global bank requirement to 3% or to delay implementation.

Australia proposes raising bank cover pool limit to 12% from 8% and doubling estate withdrawals

Draft rules would raise the covered bond cap from 8% to 12% to give mid-tier banks cheaper funding, as part of reforms the government says will cut compliance costs by $780 million a year.

European regulators questioned Google after cloud outage disrupted major banks

European and UK regulators sought answers from Google after its London cloud outage disrupted banking services, turning a systems failure into an early test of new critical-provider oversight regimes.