The Global Banker — Banking Industry News &amp; Intelligence

OCC finds all nine largest national banks had policies restricting services on beliefs or sectors

EU top court rules banks must refund fraud victims immediately, even if they allege gross negligence

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 Banks

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

ESG

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%

Morgan Stanley posts 6.5% rise in third-quarter profit to $4.91 billion

Net profit reached $4.91 billion as equities trading revenue rose 41% to $5.8 billion, while fixed income trading revenue fell 7% to $2.01 billion in the third quarter.

Central Bank of Libya opens subscription for 34th Mudaraba certificate issue

The Central Bank of Libya's Issue No. 34 of 2026 comes eight days after Issue 33, giving commercial banks another round of unrestricted Mudaraba Deposit Certificates to subscribe to.

QIB nine-month profit rises 2.0% to QR3.53bn as financing assets grow 21.9%

Qatar Islamic Bank's nine-month net profit rose 2.0% to QR3.53bn, while financing assets grew 21.9% year on year, far faster than the 8.3% rise in customer deposits.

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.

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.

The quarterly review of global banking

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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.

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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.

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.

OCC finds all nine largest national banks had policies restricting services on beliefs or sectors

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency reviewed nearly 100,000 complaints and about 50,000 bank documents, and says it will assess further changes to the framework for the largest banks.

BSP requires banks to use Basel III approach for operational risk capital

Full implementation of quarterly capital adequacy ratio reports under the new approach begins at the end-December 2027 reporting period, after a monitoring phase in which banks file parallel reports under old and new methods.

EU top court rules banks must refund fraud victims immediately, even if they allege gross negligence

The EU Court of Justice says banks must refund account fraud victims first, even when they allege gross negligence, and may reclaim losses afterwards, a ruling that bears on how banks handle fraud claims.

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.