S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of banking news stories and more published throughout the week.
Big week for Commerzbank
* Commerzbank AG appointed Bettina Orlopp CFO, replacing Stephan Engels, who opted not to renew his contract.
* Meanwhile, Commerzbank is seeking to acquire the remaining 18% stake in unit comdirect bank AG that it does not already own as part of its new strategy that has received approval from its supervisory board, under which it plans to shutter branches, let go of thousands of jobs and divest its majority stake in Polish unit mBank SA and invest up to €1.6 billion in digitalization. Commerzbank also said it no longer expects its underlying revenues for 2019 to increase as the market environment continues to "deteriorate further."
Probes and lawsuits
* German authorities raided Deutsche Bank AG's headquarters in Frankfurt to look for information related to Danske Bank A/S and a money laundering scandal, Reuters reported, citing Frankfurt prosecutors.
* ABN AMRO Bank NV is under investigation by the Dutch public prosecutor over its compliance of anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws.
* Swiss prosecutors have opened a criminal inquiry after Credit Suisse Group AG allegedly hired private detectives to follow its former wealth management head, Iqbal Khan, who is set to join rival UBS Group AG and claims to have been threatened, the Zurich attorney's office said. Credit Suisse's board has launched its own investigation on the matter.
* BNP Paribas SA is facing a criminal complaint filed by human rights groups representing survivors of the Darfur genocide in Sudan who are alleging that the French lender provided the country financial services that bolstered its regime, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Extra charges
* Spain's Banco Santander SA is set to book an accounting impairment of roughly €1.5 billion in the third quarter, following a review of the goodwill attributed to its British arm.
* DNB ASA expects to take a loan loss in the third quarter of roughly 1 billion Norwegian kroner, saying the provision is related to "one specific loan engagement."
Job cuts
* BNP Paribas SA is launching a voluntary redundancy plan that will impact roughly 10% of the workforce at its asset management unit in Paris, Reuters reported, citing the bank.
* Getin Noble Bank SA intends to lay off up to 320 staff as part of a restructuring effort to reduce costs and boost efficiency, news agency PAP reported.
* CYBG PLC unit Clydesdale Bank PLC plans to cut about 330 jobs as part of its integration with Virgin Money Holdings (UK) PLC.
In other news
* Aivar Rehe, the former head of Danske Bank A/S' Estonian branch, was found dead, several news outlets reported, citing local police.
* The EU's General Court agreed with the European Commission's assessment that HSBC Holdings PLC rigged the euro interbank offered rate benchmark as part of a seven-bank cartel, but annulled the €33.6 million fine imposed on the British bank due to insufficient reasoning, Reuters reported.
* Deutsche Bank's biggest shareholder, the Qatari royal family, is finding candidates to replace Chairman Paul Achleitner and are deliberating whether to force him to step down before his term ends in 2022, insiders told Bloomberg News.
* BNP Paribas agreed to absorb Deutsche Bank's global prime finance and electronic equities client portfolio.
Featured during the week on S&P Global Market Intelligence
Big banks squeeze out smaller rivals in UK's ultra-competitive mortgage market: With the country's largest lenders already commanding the biggest share of the lucrative mortgage market, regulatory changes have given them the firepower to compete more ferociously than ever.
Green shoots in the Greek banking sector as toxic loans fall, deposit base grows: Greece's "big four" banks all reported a reduction in toxic loans and an increase in deposits in the second quarter, which industry observers say bodes well for the recovery of the country's troubled financial sector.
'Plenty' of negative effects from ECB cheap money, Deutsche Bank CEO says: Looser ECB monetary policy is not encouraging smaller business to invest more, but it will have plenty of negative effects such as concentrating wealth among the rich, according to Christian Sewing.
